FRIENDS’  PRESENTATION 


OF  THEIR 


FAITH,  WORKS  AND  HOPES 


IN  THE 

World’s  Parliament  of  Religions 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THEIR 


DENOMINATIONAL  CONGRESS 


Ninth  mo.,  19th,  20th,  21st  and  23d. 


1893 


w.  B,  Conkey  Company, 

Printers  and  Binders, 


CHICAGO. 


af^  ^ f.  s«. 


U)  £33  {- 


History  of  the  Movement  and  Work  of 

Preparation. 

/I  

THE  Religious  Congress  for  Friends,  held  in  connection  with 
the  World’s  Parliament  of  Religions,  from  the  19th  to 
the  2 1st  of  Ninth  mo.,  inclusive,  was  an  occasion  of  such  inter- 
est and  importance  in  the  minds  of  those  favored  to  attend,  that 
it  has  been  thought  by  many  of  our  councillors  and  Friends  con- 
sulted, desirable  to  preserve  in  a permanent  form  a report  of  the 
proceedings,  together  with  some  notice  of  attending  incidents, 
for  its  possible  influence  upon  the  welfare  of  the  Society  in  gen- 
eral that  may  follow  in  after  years. 

Although  those  who  shared  in  the  deliberation  came  without 
official  authority,  probably  no  convention  of  our  Society  has  ever 
been  held  in  which  the  representation  of  influential  members  of 
our  different  yearly  meetings  was  more  general,  or  a deeper  in- 
terest felt  in  the  outcome  of  the  occasion.  The  Congress  was 
the  offspring  of  a movement  begun  late  in  the  year  1889  at 
the  suggestion  of  Charles  C.  Bonney,  who,  as  he  assures  us,  felt 
the  command  laid  upon  him  to  labor  to  inaugurate  a series  of  con- 
gresses as  a part  of  the  Columbian  Exposition,  covering  a review 
of  women’s  PROGRESS,  THE  PRESS,  SCIENCE  OF  MEDICINE,  TEMPER- 
ANCE, MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  REFORM,  COMMERCE  AND  FINANCE,  MUSIC, 
LITERATURE,  EDUCATION,  ENGINEERING,  ART  AND  ARCHITECTURE, 
GOVERNMENT  AND  LAW  REFORM,  SCIENCE  AND  PHILOSOPHY,  LABOR, 
SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  SCIENCE,  RELIGION,  SUNDAY  REST,  PUBLIC 

health,  labor  and  agriculture,  and  to  meet  the  call  for  “some- 
thing higher  and  nobler,  as  demanded  by  the  spirit  of  the  present 
age,  than  all  even  of  the  great  material  achievements  anticipated 
in  the  Exposition  proper.” 

The  Department  of  Religion,  considered  in  its  results  one  of 
the  most  important  branches  of  this  Congress  Auxiliary,  as  Pres- 
ident Bonney’s  inspiration  was  officially  designated,  was  early 

3 


687843 


4 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 

organized  by  the  earnest  response  of  leading  representatives  of 
the  various  religious  denominations  of  the  city.  The  following 
committees  of  men  and  women  were  appointed  under  the  author- 
ity of  the  Exposition  auxiliary,  namely:”  Rev.  Dr.  John  Henry 
Barrows,  Presbyterian,  Chairman;  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Wm.  E.  Mc- 
Laren, D.  D.,  D.  C.  L.,  Prot.  Episcopal;  Rev.  Prof.  David  Swing, 
Independent,  Vice-Chairmen;  His  Grace  Archbishop  P.  A.  Fee- 
han,  Catholic;  Rev.  Dr.  F.  A.  Noble,  Congregational;  Rev.  Dr. 
Wm.  M.  Lawrence,  Baptist;  Rev.  F.  M.  Bristol,  D.  D.,  Meth- 
odist;  Rabbi  E.  G.  Hirsch,  Jew;  Rev.  Dr.  A.  J.  Canfield,  Uni- 
versalist;  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  C.  E.  Cheney,  Reformed  Episcopal; 
Rev.  M.  C.  Ranseen,  Swedish  Lutheran;  Rev.  J.  Berger,  German 
Methodist;  Mr.  J.  W.  Plummer,  Quaker;  Rev.  J.  Z.  Torgersen, 
Norwegian  Lutheran;  Rev.  L.  P.  Mercer,  New  Jerusalem,  Swed- 
enborgian;  Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  Jones,  Unitarian,  Secretary;  Rev. 
Augusta  J.  Chapin,  Universalist,  Chairman;  Mrs.  C.  B.  Farwell, 
Presbyterian,  Vice-Chairman;  Mrs.  Martha  H.  Ten  Eyck,  Bap- 
tist; Mrs.  Fred  A.  Smith,  Baptist;  Mrs.  J.  A.  Mulligan,  Catholic; 
Mrs.  George  W.  Smith,  Catholic;  Mrs.  George  Sherwood,  Con- 
gregational; Mrs.  F.  B.  Little,  Congregational;  Mrs.  J.  M. 
Flower,  Episcopalian;  Mrs.  J.  N.  Hyde,  Episcopalian;  Mrs.  F. 
Q.  Ball,  Independent;  Mrs.  J.  R.  Wilson,  Independent;  Mrs. 
Henry  Soloman,  Jew;  Mrs.  I.  G.  Moses,  Jew;  Mrs.  C.  A.  Evald, 
Lutheran;  Mrs.  J.  J.  Esher,  Lutheran;  Mrs.  Arthur  Edwards, 
Methodist;  Mrs.  Solomon  Thatcher,  Methodist;  Mrs.  John  Henry 
Barrows,  Presbyterian;  Mrs.  Emma  R.  Flitcraft,  Quaker;  Mrs. 
Joseph  Sears,  Swedenborgian;  Miss  Lillie  Scammon,  Sweden- 
borgian;  Mrs.  Henry  B.  Stone,  Unitarian;  Mrs.  Celia  P.  Wooley, 
Unitarian;  Mrs.  M.  H.  Harris,  Universalist.”  In  First  mo.,  1892, 
the  preliminary  address  of  this  committee  was  issued,  inviting 
the  religious  world  to  join  in  an  effort  “to  unite  all  religion 
against  all  irreligion;  to  make  the  golden  rule  the  basis  of  this 
Union;  to  present  to  the  world  in  the  religious  congresses  to 
be  held  in  connection  with  the  Columbian  Exposition  of  1893  the 
substantial  unity  of  many  religions  in  the  good  deeds  of  a relig- 
ious life;  to  provide  for  a World’s  Parliament  of  Religions  in 
which  their  common  aims  and  common  grounds  of  union  may 
be  set  forth,  and  the  marvelous  religious  progress  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  be  reviewed;  and  to  facilitate  separate  and  inde- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


5 


pendent  congresses  of  different  religious  denominations  and 
organizations,  under  their  own  officers,  in  which  their  business 
may  be  transacted,  their  achievements  presented,  and  their  work 
for  the  future  reviewed.” 

Responding  to  this  call,  able  and  worthy  representatives  of 
the  various  sects  and  religions  accepted  the  appointment  by 
authority  of  the  Auxiliary,  and  organized  their  local  committees 
to  have  the  care  of  the  preparations  needed  to  secure  the  proper 
representation  of  each  religious  body  in  the  parliament.  And 
finally,  in  completing  the  organization  by  which  this  remarkable 
event  was  to  be  directed,  thousands  of  men  and  women  in  all 
parts  of  the  globe  were  appointed  as  Councilors  by  the  same 
authority,  acting  upon  the  suggestions  and  advice  of  the  auxiliary 
committees  in  this  department.  These  men  and  women,  selected 
for  their  ability,  their  philanthropy  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
human  progress,  were  to  constitute  the  advisory  councils  of  the 
central  or  local  committees. 

In  the  organization  of  the  denominational  committees,  Jon- 
athan W.  Plummer,  a member  of  the  general  committee,  was 
assigned  the  chairmanship  of  the  special  committee  “to  repre- 
sent the  separate  denominations  of  Friends.” 

An  address  was  sent  out  by  this  committee  in  Fourth  mo.,  1892, 
setting  forth  the  objects  of  the  movement,  and  an  outline  of  the 
grounds  Friends  had  for  a part  in  the  congress,  as  shown  in  the 
following  extract: 

“Friends  have  a history,  and  have  made  an  impress  upon  the  world.  They 
are  now  doing  a work  worthy  of  a concise  but  comprehensive  report  by  the 
most  searching,  critical,  judicious  and  spiritual  minds  we  can  command,  for 
presentation  clearly  and  earnestly  to  this  congress.  Our  origin,  history,  doc- 
trine, organization,  government,  statistics,  worship,  liberty  to  women,  missions, 
evangelization,  schools — all  may  be  made  to  yield  the  choicest  material  for  the 
proposed  religious  exhibit.  Our  relation  to  the  questions  of  peace  and  arbitra- 
tion, oaths,  human  freedom,  temperance;  the  influence  we  have  had  upon  the 
Christian  church  during  the  last  two  centuries  in  securing  religious  liberty  and 
molding  religious  thought;  the  result  of  our  suffering  and  testimony  in  securing 
the  present  noble  heritage  of  civil  liberty  in  this  country  and  Great  Britain, 
are  questions  inferior  in  importance  to  nothing  likely  to  be  discussed  before 
the  congress.” 

This  address  further  contained  a list  of  prominent  Friends  in 
the  United  States,  Canada  and  Great  Britain  who  were  invite(d  to 
act  as  advisory  councilors. 


6 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


As  the  work  of  preparation  for  the  congress  advanced,  a 
feeling  arose  “that  the  work  would  be  more  harmonious  and  suc- 
cessful if  committed  to  the  charge  of  two  distinct  committees,” 
and  in  Eleventh  mo.  the  special  committee  was  by  mutual  consent 
divided. 

The  organization  for  the  work  in  behalf  of  our  own  society 
was  then  finally  completed,  with  the  appointment  of  the  following 
central  committees  and  advisory  councils: 

General  Committee  of  the  World's  Congress  Auxiliary  on  a Friends'  Re- 
ligious Congress. 

J.  W.  Plummer,  Chairman.  Benjamin  Smith,  Secretary , 

Allen  J.  Flitcraft,  Edward  Speakman, 

James  McDonald,  Edwin  Green, 

Woman's  Committee  on  a Friends ' Religious  Congress. 

Emma  R.  Flitcraft,  Chairman , 

Phebe  W.  Brown,  Elizabeth  T.  Law, 

Mary  Poulson,  Elma  Louise  Brown, 

Hannah  A.  Plummer,  Mary  W.  Plummer, 


The  Advisory  Council  on  a Friends’  Religious  Congress. 
Men’s  Branch. 


Robert  M.  Janney,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Howard  M.  Jenkins,  Philadelphia, 
Pa. 

Isaac  H.  Clothier,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Joseph  Wharton,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Isaac  Roberts,  Conshohocken,  Pa. 

Edward  H.  Magill,  LL.  D.,  Swarth- 
more,  Pa. 

Aaron  M.  Powell,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

*Robert  S.  Haviland,  Chappaqua, 
N.  Y. 

William  M.  Jackson,  New  York, 
N.  Y. 

John  W.  Hutchinson,  New  York, 
N.  Y. 

John  L.  Griffin,  New  York,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  A,  Bogardus,  New  York, 
N.  Y. 

Harry  A.  Hawkins,  New  York,  N.Y. 

Henry  B.  Hallock,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

*Sam’l  B.  Haines,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


Jonathan  K.  Taylor,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Joseph  J.  Janney,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Edward  J.  Farquhar,  Washington, 
D.  C.  . 

Eli  M.  Lamb,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Charles  M.  Stabler,  Sandy  Spring, 
Md. 

Benjamin  Miller,  Sandy  Spring,  Md. 
*John  J.  Cornell,  Baltimore,  Md. 
*Ezekiel  Roberts,  Emerson,  Ohio. 
*Joseph  S.  Hartley,  Alliance,  Ohio. 
William  C.  Starr,  Richmond,  Ind. 
^William  W.  Foulke,  Richmond,  Ind. 
Aaron  Gano,  Richmond,  Ind. 

Aaron  Morris,  Milton,  Ind. 

Jesse  Wright,  Springboro,  Ohio. 
*Elwood  Trueblood,  Salem,  Ind. 
*Thomas  E.  Hogue,  Webster  City, 
Iowa. 

^Benjamin  F.  Nichols,  State  Centre, 
Iowa. 


* Ministers  of  the  Gospel. 


•RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


7 


Ellwood  Burdsall,  Port  Chester, 
N.  Y. 

Benjamin  D.  Hicks,  Old  Westbury, 
N.  Y. 

Prof.  Arthur  Beardsley,  Swarthmore, 
Pa. 

Edward  Stabler,  Jr.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

The  Advisory  Council  on  a 
Woman’ 


*Edward  Coale,  Holder,  111. 

*Isaac  Wilson,  Bloomfield,  Ontario. 
Charles  Thompson,  J.  P.,  Westmore- 
land, Eng. 

*Allen  Flitcraft,  Chester,  Pa. 

*Job  S.  Haines,  Mickleton,  N.  J. 
*David  Bullock,  Salem,  N.  J. 

riends’  Religious  Congress. 

Branch. 


*Louisa  J.  Roberts,  634  N.  12th  Street, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Lydia  H.  Hall,  Swarthmore,  Pa. 

Elizabeth  Powell  Bond,  Swarthmore, 
Pa. 

*Lydia  H.  Price,  Green  and  Harvey 
Streets,  Germantown,  Pa. 

Martha  Schofield,  Aiken,  S.  C. 

Sarah  B.  Flitcraft,  Chester,  Pa. 

Susan  J.  Cunningham,  Swarthmore, 
Pa. 

Mary  J.  Turner,  Idlewood,  Pa. 

Elizabeth  Lloyd,  Lansdowne,  Pa. 

Beatrice  Magill,  Swarthmore,  Pa. 

Florence  Hall,  Swarthmore,  Pa. 

Anna  M.  Jackson,  335  W.  18th  Street 
New  York  City,  N.  Y. 

Phebe  C.  Wright,  Manasquan,  N.  J. 

Marianna  Chapman,  160  Hicks 
Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Anna  Rice  Powell,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

Emily  P.  Yeo,  Chappaqua,  N.  Y. 

Anna  C.  Field,  158  Hicks  Street, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Eliza  Hutchinson,  Fordham  Heights, 
N.  Y. 

Mary  W.  Wright,  73  Remsen  Street, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Sarah  T.  Miller,  Sandy  Spring,  Md. 

Eliza  Rawson,  Lincoln,  Va. 


Rebecca  D.  Wilson,  Johnson  City, 
Tenn. 

*Martha  S.  Townsend,  1923  Park 
Avenue,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Anna  W.  Lamb,  1432  McCulloh 
Street,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Sarah  E.  Lippincott,  Mt.  Auburn, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Susan  Cunningham,  Mt.  Auburn, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Mary  Pine,  Mt.  Auburn,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 

Mercy  G.  Hammond,  Sterling,  Kan. 

Sarah  C.  Fox,  Salem,  Ohio. 

Abigail  Hirst,  Richmond,  Ind. 

Mary  Reeves  Foulke,  Richmond, 
Ind. 

Caroline  M.  Reeves,  Richmond,  Ind. 

Frances  M.  Robinson,  Richmond, 
Ind. 

Elizabeth  Davis,  Waynesville,  Ohio. 

Elizabeth  H.  Coale,  Holder,  111. 

Lauretta  H.  Nichols,  State  Centre, 
Iowa. 

Hannah  Mills,  Mt.  Palatine,  111. 

Ruth  Wilson,  Bloomfield,  Ont.,  Can. 

*Serena  Minard,  St.  Thomas,  Ont., 
Can. 

Alzina  Zavitz,  Cold  Stream,  Ont.,  Can. 

Rebecca  Schooley,  Sparta,  Ont.,  Can. 


It  will  be  noticed  that  primarily  the  committees  of  men  and 
women  Friends  were  separate — a point  yielded  in  deference  to 
the  uniform  rule  of  the  Auxiliary,  In  very  few  of  the  con- 
gresses, however,  did  it  result  in  separate  action,  and  in  our  own 
there  was  practically  but  one  joint  committee. 


*Minieters  of  the  Gospel. 


8 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Our  preliminary  address  to  the  councilors  was  issued  in  First 
mo.,  1893,  the  following  extracts  from  which  indicate  the  scope 
of  work  proposed: 

“The  program  of  the  parliament  will  be  fourfold.  The  first  part  will 
consist  of  the  presentation,  in  one  of  the  large  audience  rooms  of  the  Art 
palace,  on  the  lake  front  park  of  Chicago,  of  the  grounds  of  sympathy  and 
fraternal  relations  among  the  religious  bodies  of  the  world.  The  second  part 
will  consist  of  the  concurrent  presentation  to  the  world  in  another  large 
audience  room  of  the  Art  palace,  of  the  faith  and  work  of  the  different  partici- 
pating religious  denominations.  Separate  sessions  will  be  assigned  to  each 
denomination  for  this  purpose.  The  third  part  of  the  program  will  consist 
of  informal  conferences  in  the  small  halls  of  the  Art  palace,  in  which  further 
information  in  regard  to  any  of  the  religious  denominations  may  be  sought  by 
persons  interested  therein.  The  fourth  part  of  the  program  will  consist  of 
denominational  congresses  proper,  in  which  each  denomination  will,  in  such 
way  as  it  may  deem  best,  set  forth  more  fully  its  history,  achievements  and 
purposes.  These  denominational  congresses  are  expected  to  continue  for  one 
week  each;  and  to  accommodate  them  it  is  expected  that  more  than  one 
hundred  Chicago  church  buildings  will  be  called  into  requisition. 

“It  is  practically  settled  that  our  denomination  will  have  from  two  to 
three  hours  for  its  presentation  in  the  parliament  of  religions.  This,  we 
believe,  will  give  us  time  for  a concise  statement  of  our  history,  our  religious 
faith,  and  the  testimonies  springing  out  of  it;  our  past  work  in  the  world,  and 
our  thought  as  to  the  best  basis  for  the  co-operation  of  differing  faiths  in  a 
common  contest  with  jointly  recognized  evils. 

“Our  separate  congress  will  admit  of  anything  that  we  believe  will  be 
helpful  to  our  society  and  mankind.  It  may  be  an  occasion  not  only  for 
happy  intermingling,  but  also  for  the  consideration  of  our  faith  and  testi- 
monies in  their  application  to  the  world;  giving  us  a better  sight  of  our  fields; 
increasing  our  conviction  of  duty  toward  our  fellowmen  outside  of  our  own 
membership,  and  leading  to  a more  general  consecration  to  this  duty  in 
preaching  by  deed  and  word,  a Christianity  that  rests  in  its  Christlikeness  of 
temper  and  purpose,  rather  than  in  an  adherence  to  a special  form  of  expres- 
sion of  faith.” 

The  interest  and  co-operation  of  our  councilors  was  solicited 
in  arranging  the  topics  and  in  the  selection  of  persons  who  might 
satisfactorily  tell  to  the  world  our  rightful  position  as  a moral  and 
religious  people. 

The  responses  to  our  appeal  were  general  and  thoughtful,  and 
earnestly  sympathetic  with  the  movement. 

The  appointments  for  our  share  of  the  exercises  forming  a 
part  of  the  general  parliament  were  completed  in  accordance 
with  the  advice  received,  and  the  program  announced  in  an  ad- 
dress issued  in  Fifth  mo.,  1893. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


9 


Inasmuch  as  the  department  of  religion  had  primarily  made 
provisions  for  distinct  denominational  congresses,  the  local 
committee  and  Friends  consulted  felt  “the  opportunity  offered 
for  an  inquiry  into  our  denominational  needs  oughf  not  to  be 
lost.” 

In  response  to  this  feeling  a second  address  was  issued  in 
Fourth  mo.,  asking  further  advice.  In  this  inquiry  Friends  were 
invited  to  give  “the  fullest  expression  of  counsel  to  the  end 
that  our  action  may  prove  wise,  and  open  the  way  to  a spiritual 
baptism  and  inspiration  to  renewed  life  among  us.”  A common 
feeling  seemed  to  arise  that  in  these  exercises  the  Spirit  need 
should  receive  first  consideration;  that  we  should  prayerfully 
consider  whether  there  might  be  any  failure  on  our  part  in  the 
past  to  maintain  our  vital  testimonies,  and  how  “we  may  in  any 
way  increase  our  faithfulness  and  efficiency  as  an  organized  power 
in  hastening  their  full  and  general  acceptance.”  A program  to 
occupy  three  sessions  was  arranged  in  harmony  with  these  thoughts 
and  as  wide  information  extended  to  Friends  in  the  seven  yearly 
meetings,  as  information  at  the  command  of  the  central  com- 
mittee would  permit. 

That  Friends  not  privileged  to  be  in  attendance  may  know  of 
the  interest  and  thoughtfulness  of  the  meetings,  catching,  if  may 
be,  somewhat  of  the  spiritual  yearning  for  a closer  service  that  per- 
vaded the  entire  season  of  the  congresses,  this  report  is  hopefully 
offered. 

SUMMARY  OF  THE  EXERCISES. 

Four  sessions  especially  devoted  to  the  dissemination  and 
consideration  of  Friends’  principles  and  a review  of  their  educa- 
tional and  missionary  labors  were  held — one  session  in  the  Gen- 
eral Parliament  of  Religions  in  the  hall  of  Washington  and  three 
of  the  denominational  congress.  In  addition  there  was  given 
in  the  hall  of  Columbus,  Seventh  day,  the  23d,  by  our  representa- 
tive, Aaron  M.  Powell,  of  New  York,  an  address  for  Friends  “of 
the  grounds  of  Sympathy  and  Fraternal  relations  among  the  Re- 
ligious bodies  of  the  World.” 

In  arranging  the  program  for  each  session,  it  was  thought 
best  originally  to  provide  for  exercises  for  about  two  and  a half 
hours  with  a short  recess.  The  intensity  of  interest,  however, 


10 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


was  such  that  each  session  was  prolonged  to  three  hours  without 
recess,  the  closing  one  continuing  four  hours  with  an  audience 
increasing  in  numbers  to  the  end,  made  up  of  Friends,  and  many 
not  in  membership  who  were  attentive  listeners. 

This  brief  summary  of  the  occasion  would  be  incomplete  were 
no  reference  made  to  the  meetings  on  First-days,  the  17th  and 
24th.  In  anticipation  of  the  promised  presence  of  many  Friends 
from  a distance,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  secure  more  ample 
quarters  for  the  First-day  meetings  than  afforded  by  the  regular 
place  of  meeting.  Through  the  favor  of  Illinois’  Yearly  Meeting 
and  the  courtesy  of  the  managers  of  Willard  hall  in  the  W.C.T.U. 
temple,  that  place  was  secured.  The  meeting  of  the  17th  drew 
together  a company  of  over  six  hundred  Friends  and  others.  The 
impressive  silence  of  the  opening  was  broken  by  Allen  Flitcraft 
in  supplication.  Lydia  H.  Price,  Aaron  M.  Powell,  Isaac  Wil- 
son, John  J.  Cornell,  Mary  Trevilla,  Charlotte  Cocks,  Benj.  F. 
Nichols  and  others  followed  in  brief  and  earnest  testimonies,  call- 
ing us  to  the  need  of  individual  consecration  and  pointing  out 
the  opportunities  presented  at  this  time  for  a deeper  insight  into 
the  principles  of  the  universal  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  broth- 
erhood of  man.  The  meeting  of  the  24th,  though  probably  not 
much  exceeding  four  hundred,  owing  in  part  to  inclement  weather 
and  the  appointed  departure  on  that  day  of  the  eastern  excursion, 
was  impressively  addressed  by  Serena  Minard,  Margaretta  Wal- 
ton, Joel  Borton,  John  W.  Onderdonk  and  others,  and  proved  an 
occasion  of  deep  satisfaction. 

In  concluding  the  summary,  the  central  committee  would 
express  their  obligation  to  the  Councilors  and  Friends  generally, 
for  the  generous  advice  and  assistance  in  arranging  for  the  de- 
tails of  the  congress,  as  well  as  for  the  presence  of  so  large  a 
representation  of  Friends  from  all  parts  of  this  country  and  Can- 
ada. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


•I  I 


Presentation  in  the  Parliament  of 
Religions. 

Hall  of  Washington,  Ninth  mo.  19th,  2:30  P.M. 

AT  the  hour  appointed,  Charles  C.  Bonney,  president  of  the 
Congress  Auxiliary,  having  invited  a brief  silence,  opened 
the  meeting  with  a few  impressive  remarks,  in  substance  as 
follows:  It  was  not  always  in  his  power  to  be  present  at  the 
beginning  of  the  various  congresses,  but  when  this  invitation 
came,  the  voice  of  his  sainted  mother,  who  had  been  a Friend, 
seemed  to  bid  him  accept  the  call.  In  reviewing  the  varied  con- 
ditions and  situations  of  religious  communities,  one  must  feel 
that  the  barriers  heretofore  existing  between  sects  and  religions 
must  stand  in  the  way  of  our  highest  success  in  seeking  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  humanity.  The  very  simplicity  in  the  forms 
and  requirements  of  Friends  must  be  a power  in  the  movement 
to  bring  the  professors  of  religion  nearer  together.  A thought 
had  gone  abroad  that  as  a society  Friends  were  decaying.  He  was 
rejoiced  to  have  in  the  evidence  of  the  large  company  present, 
the  glad  tidings  of  their  continued  or  renewed  vigor. 

At  the  conclusion  of  President  Bonney’s  remarks  the  follow- 
ing program  was  presented: 

Opening  Address Jonathan  W.  Plummer,  Chicago. 

Introduction  and  Response  of 

the  Chairman Robert  M.  Janney , Phila. 

Reading  of  Portions  of  Whittier’s 

“Our  Master”  . .’ Aaron  M.  Powell,  New  York. 

A Statement  of  the  Faith  of 

Friends Howard  M.  Jenkins,  Phila. 

Read  by  Robert  M.  Janney. 

Our  Mission  Work Joseph  J.  Janney,  Baltimore. 

Our  Institutions  of  Learning  . . . Edw'd  H.  Magill,  LL.D.,  Swarthmore. 
The  Position  of  Woman  in  the 

Society Elizabeth  Powell  Bond , Swarthmore. 

Read  by  Hannah  A.  Plummer. 

Our  Thought  as  to  Co-operation 
of  Distinct  Faiths  in  Labor 
Against  Jointly  Recognized 

Evils Robert  S.  Haviland,  Chappaqua,  N.  Y. 


2 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Opening  Address. 


By  J.  W.  Plummer. 


HOLDING  as  our  fundamental  principle  the  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  or  Spiritual  Indwelling  in  every  accountable  soul, 
constituting  the  divine  image  in  which  God  created  man,  we  also 
hold  to  the  belief  that  all  men  are  brothers,  children  of  the  same 
Spiritual  Father;  hence,  we  enter  joyfully  into  co-operation  with 
our  brethren  from  every  land  and  of  every  religious  faith,  in  the 
effort  to  combine  the  power  of  all  religions  in  opposition  to  the 
sin  and  evils  that  afflict  man  and  prevent  his  reaching  the  stand- 
ard of  righteousness,  that  gives  peace,  joy,  content,  with  a pure 
and  noble  manhood  and  womanhood.  Therefore,  in  full  harmony 
with  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  occasion,  I extend  greetings  of 
welcome  and  fellowship  not  only  to  you  who  are  known  by  the 
denominational  name  of  Friends,  but  al^o  to  you,  our  friends  of 
other  faiths,  who  are  with  us  this  afternoon.  An  occasion  like 
this  has  been  unknown  heretofore  in  the  religious  history  of  the 
world.  A new  day  is  dawning.  A day  of  clearer  vision  in  which 
we  can  see  that  all  human  beings,  wherever  living,  and  holding 
whatever  religious  faith  they  may,  are  children  of  the  same  Spirit- 
ual Father,  however  differently  we  may  name  Him.  Under  this 
common  Fatherhood,  we  are  all  brothers,  and  may  be  brothers  at 
peace  with  each  other,  under  a common  hope  and  common  aspi- 
rations. Holding  faithfully  to  our  differing  beliefs  and  church 
customs,  so  long  as  they  seem  to  us  the  best  exponents  of  relig- 
ious truth  and  practice,  we  may  fellowship  in  work  against  com- 
monly recognized  sin  or  evil.  We  may  give  to  each  other  credit 
for  sincerity  and  good  purposes,  and  breathe  a common  prayer 
that  peace  and  good-will  may  increase  among  men.  Under  the 
light  of  this  new  day,  which  we  hope  will  rapidly  grow  brighter, 
we  may  work  each  in  our  appointed  fields  for  the  lessening  of 
vice  with  its  penalties,  and  forthe  increase  of  righteousness  of  daily 
life  among  all  men,  to  the  end,  that  they  may  rise  to  a higher 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


3 


standard  of  purity  and  integrity,  and  human  life  pass  from  its  too 
frequent  wretchedness  and  poverty  of  body,  mind  and  spirit,  to 
that  happiness,  content  and  comfort  which  is  our  inheritance 
under  the  Divine  law.  May  we  not  hope,  too,  for  greater  helpful- 
ness and  co-operation  among  all  faiths,  that  will  increase  our 
power  to  do  the  Divine  will  and  bring  the  kingdom  of  justice  and 
love  into  greater  rule  in  the  hearts  of  men?  As  this  spirit  of 
peace  and  fellowship  increases  among  us,  may  we  not  expect  to 
see  the  real  essentials  of  all  religion  become  clearer  to  our  vision, 
and  the  non-essentials  that  have  separated  us  gradually  grow  dim 
and  lose  their  separating  power?  Will  we  not  thus  find  a line  of 
common  faith,  though  differently  voiced,  leading  to  the  same 
righteousness  of  life  and  binding  us  nearer  together  in  our  con- 
tests with  the  powers  of  evil?  It  is  under  such  hopes  as  these 
that  we,  as  Friends,  have  met  in  this  session,  to  present  to  our 
brethren  of  other  faiths  a statement  of  the  faith  that  has  led  us 
to  feel  God’s  love  flow  into  our  hearts,  and  out  from  our  hearts 
toward  the  whole  brotherhood  of  the  race. 

This  love  has  led  us  to  be  pioneers  in  the  effort  to  abolish 
intemperance,  ignorance,  slavery,  war  and  vices  that  lead  men 
downward. 

As  a result  of  this  faith,  we  lived  at  peace  with  the  Indians  of 
Pennsylvania  as  long  as  the  State  was  under  the  control  of  the 
Friends.  We  advocated  in  our  earlier  days  that  liberty  of  con- 
science for  all,  which  we  asked  for  ourselves,  and  called  for  the 
arbitration  of  differences  between  individuals,  as  well  as  between 
nations.  Our  papers  following  will  present  to  you  in  fuller  state- 
ment the  fruitage  of  this  faith,  as  it  has  guided  our  lives  during 
the  two  and  a half  centuries  of  our  denominational  existence, 
and  we  ask  for  our  presentation,  that  which  we  give  to  others,  a 
kindly  spirit  of  fellowship  and  inquiry  that  will  allow  whatever 
we  present  to  meet  a welcome,  so  far  as  it  may  seem  true,  or 
worthy,  in  the  kindly  hearts  that  receive  our  message. 


14 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Address  of  Robert  M.  Janney,  Chairman 
for  the  “Presentation.” 


IN  assuming  the  chairmanship  of  this  session  of  the  religious 
congress,  I desire  to  say,  briefly,  on  behalf  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  whose  presentation  is  now  to  be  made,  that  we  have 
looked  forward  to,  and  rejoiced  in  this  opportunity  for  making 
known  to  the  world,  here  represented  by  those  of  all  faiths  and 
of  every  clime,  the  simple  belief  which  we  hold,  and  which  to  us 
is  so  vitally  true  and  so  tenderly  dear.  But  we  have  rejoiced 
much  more  in  this,  that  by  our  presence  in  this  great  congress, 
and  by  our  participation  in  its  deliberations,  we  can  testify  our 
abiding  interest  in  its  purposes  and  our  deep  sympathy  with  the 
thought  for  which  it  stands. 

That  thought,  as  we  apprehend  it,  is  a fuller  recognition  of 
the  universal  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  all-embracing  brother- 
hood of  man.  If  then,  one  is  our  Father,  even  God,  and  all  we 
are  brethren,  must  we  not  go  forward  as  children  of  that  common 
Father,  and  under  the  influence  of  His  Spirit,  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  His  purposes?  Shall  we  not  strive  to  bring  in  that  bet- 
ter day — 

“When  all  men’s  good,  is  each  man’s  rule, 

And  universal  peace  lies  like  a shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 

And  like  a lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea, 

Through  all  the  circle  of  the  Golden  Year.” 

Our  aspiration  is  that,  individually,  our  lives  may  be  con- 
formed to  and  concerned  with  those  things  that  are  true — those 
things  that  are  honest — those  things  that  are  just — those  things 
that  are  pure — those  things  that  are  lovely — those  things  that  are 
of  good  report;  and  that,  denominationally,  putting  aside  all 
clamor  and  evil  speaking,  we  may  go  forward  unitedly  against 
all  forms  of  evil  and  wrong,  and  to  the  support  of  all  that  is  true 
and  good,  until  God’s  righteousness  shall  cover  the  earth  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Our  Master. 

J.  G.  Whittier. 


Read  by  Aaron  M.  Powell. 


Immortal  love,  forever  full, 

Forever  flowing  free, 

Forever  shared,  forever  whole, 

A never-ebbing  sea! 

Our  outward  lips  confess  the  name 
All  other  names  above; 

Love  only  knoweth  whence  it  came, 
And  comprehendeth  love. 

Blow,  winds  of  God,  awake  and  blow, 
The  mists  of  earth  away! 

Shine  out,  O Light  Divine,  and  show 
How  wide  and  far  we  stray! 

Hush  every  lip,  close  every  book, 

The  strife  of  tongues  forbear; 

Why  forward  reach,  or  back  ward  look, 
For  love  that  clasps  like  air? 

We  may  not  climb  the  heavenly  steeps 
To  bring  the  Lord  Christ  down; 

In  vain  we  search  the  lowest  deeps 
For  Him  no  depths  can  drown. 

In  joy  of  inward  peace,  or  sense 
Of  sorrow  over  sin, 

He  is  His  own  best  evidence, 

His  witness  is  within. 

But  warm,  sweet,  tender,  even  yet 
A present  help  is  He, 

And  faith  has  still  its  Olivet, 

And  love  its  Galilee. 


1 6 RELIGIOUS  CONGRE.SS  FOR  FRIENDS. 

Deep  strike  Thy  roots,  O heavenly  vine, 
Within  our  earthly  sod, 

Most  human  and  yet  most  divine, 

The  flower  of  man  and  God! 

Thy  litanies,  sweet  offices 
Of  love  and  gratitude; 

The  sacramental  liturgies, 

The  joy  of  doing  good. 

We  faintly  hear,  we  dimly  see 
In  differing  phrase  we  pray; 

But,  dim  or  clear,  we  own  in  Thee 
The  light,  the  truth,  the  way. 


m 

up 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


A Statement  of  the  Faith  of  Friends. 


Howard  M.  Jenkins. 


HE  Religious  Society  of  Friends,  represented  in  part  by  this 


1 gathering  in  the  congress  of  religions,  arose  in  England 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Its  first  and  most  emi- 
nent minister,  George  Fox,  the  son  of  a weaver,  himself  a shoe- 
maker and  shepherd,  was  born  in  1614,  and  began  his  religious 
labors  somewhat  earlier  than  1650.  Dying  in  1690,  his  forty 
years  of  activity  had  served  to  awaken,  to  gather,  and  to  organize 
the  religious  society  for  which  we  speak,  and  which  has  now  had 
an  existence  and  a history  for  nearly  two  centuries  and  a half. 

Friends,  or  Quakers,  are  an  outgrowth  from  the  Protestant 
movement,  and  are  identified  almost  entirely  with  the  English- 
speaking  nations.  Not  now  united  in  one  body,  those  who  claim 
the  name  and  who  regard  themselves,  notwithstanding  variations 
in  views  and  usage,  as  having  the  right  to  employ  it,  are  found 
in  Great  Britain,  the  United  States,.  Canada  and  Australia,  with  a 
few  scattered  companies  elsewhere,  mainly  the  result  of  mission- 
ary effort.  Altogether  their  actual  membership  is  less  than  150,- 
000,  and  in  the  body  which  this  gathering  particularly  represents, 
and  which  is  organized  in  seven  yearly  meetings,  all  in  America, 
there  is  a membership  somewhat  less  than  25,000.  Whether  con- 
sidered then  as  a whole,  or  in  their  several  divisions,  the  Friends 
are  in  numbers  so  few  as  to  be  almost  insignificant  when  com- 
pared with  the  greater  churches  of  Christendom.  Nevertheless, 
Truth  must  be  weighed,  not  measured.  It  does  not  depend  on 
numbers. 

What,  then,  was  the  truth  which  in  1650  George  Fox  was  de- 
claring? It  was  that  which  Jesus  signified  in  His  declaration  to 
the  woman  of  Samaria  by  the  brink  of  Jacob’s  well:  “God  is 
Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in  Spirit, 
and  in  truth.”  The  young  preacher  called  his  hearers  to  a spir- 


i8 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


itual  knowledge  of  God  and  to  a real  life  of  religion.  He  de- 
nounced, therefore,  the  outward  and  summoned  to  the  inward. 
He  testified  against  form  in  order  that  substance  might  be 
possessed  and  enjoyed.  William  Penn  says  of  the  early  Friends: 
“They  were  directed  to  the  light  of  Jesus  Christ  within  them,  as 
the  seed  and  leaven  of  the  kingdom  of  God;  near  all,  because  in 
all,  and  God’s  talent  to  all.  A faithful  and  true  witness  and  just 
monitor  in  every  bosom.  The  gift  and  grace  of  God  to  life  and 
salvation  that  appears  to  all,  though  few  regard  it.” 

Such  a conception  of  the  Truth  is  simple,  but  it  is  far-reaching. 
Thrown  into  the  crucible  with  this  powerful  solvent,  much  that 
was  thought,  and  still  is  thought,  essential  in  the  systems  of 
religion  is  consumed.  For  if  religion  is  simple,  and  not  complex,  if 
it  is  a practical  work,  and  not  a formula  of  doctrine,  or  program  of 
ritual,  if  we  may  turn  away  from  cloister  and  cathedral  to  hear 
the  voice  of  God  within  our  own  souls,  a great  structure  ecclesi- 
astical, ceremonial  must  decay  and  disappear. 

“Too  late  I loved  Thee,  O Beauty  of  ancient  days,  yet  ever 
new!”  says  Augustine  himself.  ‘ And  lo!  Thou  wert  within,  and 
I abroad  searching  for  Thee!  Thou  wert  with  me,  but  I was  not 
with  Thee.” 

George  Fox  did  not  proclaim  a new  scheme  of  salvation,  or 
propose  a more  elaborate  or  more  attractive  system  of  religion. 
He  conceived  that  his  mission  was  altogether  different.  He  pro- 
posed to  return  to  first  principles.  He  wished  to  call  mankind 
home.  He  saw  them  distracted  by  confusing  voices,  such  as  the 
Master  Himself  had  warned  against,  the  “ Lo,  here  is  Christ!”  and 
“ Lo,  there  He  is!”  and  he  cited  them  therefore  to  the  knowing  of 
Christ  within.  “ For,  lo,”  declared  Jesus,  “the  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you!” 

This,  then,  is  that  which  Quakerism  regards  as  supremely  the 
Truth,  the  conception  of  the  Inner  Light.  It  is  that  which  has 
been  called  by  many  names,  as  the  thought,  exquisitely  simple 
and  beautiful,  has  unfolded  to  many  minds.  It  is  the  Divine 
Immanence,  the  Divine  Inshining,  immediate  revelation,  or,  in  the 
words  of  Penn,  “The  light  of  Christ  within,  God’s  gift  for  man’s 
salvation.” 

Such  a gift,  conferred  by  a just  God,  must  be  universal.  It 
must  be  of  every  age  and  all  lands,  It  can  be  no  private  property 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


19 


or  exclusive  possession.  So  the  Quaker  believes.  To  him  the 
touch  of  man  with  man,  and  of  nation  with  nation,  results  from 
God’s  creative  act,  and  God’s  universal  saving  Light.  Such  Light 
shone  upon  the  patriarchs,  it  dwelt  with  Moses,  it  enlightened 
the  prophets,  it  appears  in  the  psalms.  Nor  yet  in  Palestine  was 
it  confined.  The  world’s  life,  growing  toward  the  consciousness 
of  its  presence,  responds  to  its  power  in  every  land,  feebly  and 
slowly,  but  yet  evidently. 

“ O Beauty,  old  yet  ever  new! 

Eternal  voice  and  inward  word, 

The  Logos  of  the  Greek  and  Jew, 

The  old  sphere-music  which  the  Samian  heard! 

“ Nor  bounds,  nor  clime,  nor  creed  thou  know’st, 

Wide  as  our  need  Thy  favors  fall; 

The  white  wings  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
Stoop,  seen  or  unseen,  o’er  the  heads  of  all.” 

Self-evident,  self-proved,  the  Light  Within  demands  no  con- 
firmation, convicting  and  convincing,  it  shines  alike  for  prince  or 
pauper,  for  savant  or  savage,  in  palace  or  desert,  on  land  or  on 
sea. 

It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  Quaker  doctrine  of  the  Inner 
Light  is  a doctrine  merely,  an  intellectual  conception,  to  be 
theoretically  held.  Bancroft,  when  he  says  in  his  noble  chapter, 
“the  Quaker  has  but  one  word,  the  Inner  Light,  the  voice  of  God 
in  the  soul,”  speaks  truly,  and  yet  not  fully.  We  must  follow  his 
next  words,  when  he  says:  “That  Light  is  a reality,  and,  there- 
fore, in  its  freedom,  the  highest  revelation  of  Truth;  it  is  kindred 
with  the  Spirit  of  God,  and,  therefore,  in  its  purity  should  be 
listened  to  as  the  guide  to  virtue;  it  shines  in  every  man’s  breast, 
and,  therefore,  joins  the  whole  human  race  in  the  unity  of  equal 
rights.”  “The  bent  and  stress  of  their  ministry,”  William  Penn 
says  of  the  early  Friends,  “was  conversion  to  God,  regeneration 
and  holiness;  not  schemes  of  doctrine  and  verbal  creeds,  nor  new 
forms  of  worship,  but  a leaving  off  in  religion  the  superfluous,  and 
reducing  the  ceremonious  and  formal  part,  and  pressing  earnestly 
the  substantial,  the  necessary  and  profitable  part  to  the  soul. 
They  directed  people  to  a principle  by  which  all  that  they 
asserted,  preached,  and  exhorted  others  to,  might  be  wrought  in 
them,  and  known,  through  experience,  to  be  true.”  This  is  the 
fullness  of  the  great  principle  of  Quakerism;  that  it  is  not  dog- 


20 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


matic,  but  practical;  not  barren,  but  fruitful;  not  held  intellectu- 
ally, but  experienced  livingly  and  exemplified  in  life.  “Whoso- 
ever heareth  these  sayings  of  Mine,  and  doeth  them,  I will  liken 
him  unto  a wise  man  which  built  his  house  upon  a rock.”  These 
are  the  words  of  the  Master.  “He  hath  shown  thee,  O man,  what 
is  good;  and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  but  to  do  justly, 
to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?”  These  are 
the  words  of  the  Prophet.  ‘T'or  as  the  body  without  the  Spirit 
is  dead,  so  faith  without  works  is  dead,  also.”  And  these  are  the 
words  of  the  Apostle. 

True  Quakerism,  then,  means  both  the  knowledge  of  God 
spiritually,  and  the  practical  manifestation  in  this  life  of  the 
Divine  influence.  In  so  far  as  Friends  fall  short  in  either  of 
these  particulars,  so  far  they  fail  to  reach  their  own  ideal.  Little 
or  much,  so  they  must  be  judged. 

Friends  were  called  to  a particular  work.  So  long  as  they  are 
entitled  to  their  name  they  must  pursue  the  course  which  Fox 
laid  out,  and  continue  to  summon  the  world  home.  The  sub- 
stance of  Truth  does  not  change.  The  duty  of  calling  mankind 
back  to  it  remains.  As  the  muezzin  never  tires  and  never  fails, 
but  repeats  unvaryingly  from  age  to  age  his  summons  to  prayer, 
so  forever,  while  it  lives,  Quakerism  is  bound  to  cry,  “Turn  with- 
in! Turn  within!”  Is  this  war?  It  is  peace.  It  is  the  appeal 
to  the  common  tie  and  common  ground  of  all  religions.  Such  a 
demand  goes  out  in  Christian  love  to  lay  gentle  hold  upon  every 
system,  every  fold,  every  communion.  If,  as  in  the  days  of  P'ox, 
acceptance  of  the  call  requires  a sacrifice,  a surrender  of  the 
ceremonial  and  outward,  who  shall  be  blamed  for  this  ? The  Chris- 
tian, when  he  reached  the  place  of  the  cross,  found  the  burden 
which  he  had  been  bearing  roll  from  his  shoulders.  Will  the 
world,  then,  coming  to  the  cross,  embrace  the  Truth,  and  cast  off 
hindering  things,  or  rail,  as  of  old,  at  the  prophets? 

It  must  be  said  that  the  appeal  made  by  Friends  has  never 
been  without  hopeful  response.  From  the  beginning  they  found 
fresh  courage,  as  they  learned  that  the  principle  of  truth  which 
appeared  to  them  had  appeared  to  many  before.  Its  germ  they 
found  in  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  and  in  the  writings  of  the 
Christian  fathers  they  rejoiced  to  see  it  clearly  set  forth.  Tertul- 
lian,  Justin  Martyr,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  were  among  those 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


21 


who  had  testified  to  the  efficacy  and  the  beauty  of  the  Divine 
Indwelling — Clement,  indeed,  with  an  oriental  richness  of  expres- 
sion compared  with  which  our  own  seems  poor  and  meager. 
After  their  day  the  church  lapsed;  in  the  words  of  Pressense, 
such  teaching  as  Clements’  was  too  pure  and  too  spiritual  for  that 
age;  yet  the  stream,  lost  then  among  the  arid  sands  of  external 
authority,  was  seen  to  rise  again  when  those  desert  wastes  had 
been  passed.  The  witnesses  to  its  presence  are  a goodly  com- 
pany, and  their  names  are  not  limited  to  one  land  or  church. 
Recalling  the  testimony  of  Francis  of  Assisi,  of  Thomas  of 
Kempis,  of  Tauler,  of  the  persecuted  Spaniard  Molinos,  of  the 
broad-minded,  but  too  submissive  Fenelon,  of  the  German  peasant 
Jakob  Bohme,  of  Madame  Guyon,  and  many  more,  the  Quaker 
has  found  in  all  a spirit  confirming  and  supporting  his  own.  And, 
as  the  nineteenth  century  closes,  he  hears  in  the  discourse  of 
many  earnest  and  spiritual  evangelists  the  very  thought  of  Fox. 
The  two  elements,  the  two  sides  of  the  truth  which  he  proclaimed, 
are  here  again — reassertion  of  the  Divine  Inshining  and  the 
demand  for  a pure  and  sincere  life.  Beset  by  opponents,  afflicted 
by  their  own  doubts  and  difficulties,  perceiving  that  the  spirit  of 
dogma  claims  too  much  and  yet  realizes  far  too  little,  the  Chris- 
tian leaders  recur  to  original  principles,  and  appeal  once  more  to 
fundamental  truth.  The  preaching  of  the  early  Friends  is  heard 
again  all  about  us. 

If  we  speak  of  the  logical  consequences  of  Friends’  fundamen- 
tal principle,  the  question  will  be  asked  us,  “What  are  they? 
What  does  the  conception  of  the  divine  inshining  necessarily 
imply?”  To  answer  this  at  length  would  unduly  extend  this 
paper,  and  to  answer  it  with  completeness  would  with  even  more 
certainty  exceed  the  ability  of  the  present  writer.  For,  as  has 
been  said,  the  doctrine  of  the  inner  light,  while  it  is  simple,  is  far- 
reaching.  He  would  be  more  than  bold  who  would  assign  to  the 
Spirit  of  God  its  metes  and  bounds.  Yet  there  are  certain  results 
of  the  principle  which  seem  at  once  natural  and  inevitable. 
Speaking  on  the  point  of  doctrine  briefly  and  guardedly,  we  may 
say  that  the  Truth  as  Fox  saw,  and  his  followers  see  it,  implies  a 
benignant  and  merciful  God,  and  forbids  and  dismisses  the  con- 
trary thought.  He  who,  as  Peter  perceived,  is  no  respecter  of 
persons;  He  who  has  left  none  of  His  children  without  a witness, 


22 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


but  has  imparted  the  principle  of  Truth  to  them  all,  must  be  a 
God  of  love,  as  John  declared  Him,  and  as  the  world  is  coming 
to  believe.  Whatever,  therefore,  in  the  theologies  of  men,  the 
catechisms  and  confessions,  short  or  long,  of  churches  or  sects, 
proceeds  in  harmony  with  this  conception  of  the  Infinite  Father- 
hood, is  Quakerism. 

If  it  were  needful  to  state  more  precisely  and  more  compactly 
the  faith  of  Friends,  I should  say,  and  I speak  only  as  an  indi- 
vidual member,  that  it  may  be  given  under  five  headings.  The 
first  of  these  is  fundamental  to  all  religion.  The  second  is  the 
distinctive  doctrine  of  Friends,  without  which  there  can  be  no 
Quakerism.  And  it,  and  the  statements  which  follow  it,  as  they 
vary  from  the  declared  creeds  of  other  religious  bodies,  separate 
and  differentiate  Friends  from  the  “churches”  generally.  I will 
call  them  the  first  five  principles  of  Quakerism. 

First. — The  Supreme  Being.  Recognition  and  worship  of  God,  the  Creator 
and  Ruler  of  all,  attributing  to  Him  the  supreme  qualities  of  goodness,  love 
and  mercy. 

Second. — The  Divine  Immanence.  Belief  that  God,  thus  good,  loving  and 
merciful,  directly  reveals  Himself  to  the  perceptions  of  man;  that  His  light 
shines  into  our  souls,  if  we  admit  it,  and  becomes  thus  “ God’s  gift  for  man’s 
salvation.” 

Third. — The  Scriptures.  Confirming  this  immediate  revelation  of  the 
divine  nature  and  purpose,  the  Scriptures  record  the  visitations  of  God  to  the 
souls  of  men  in  past  ages,  and,  in  the  New  Testament,  present  to  us  the  sub- 
lime and  crowning  truths  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  We  therefore  revere 
the  Scriptures,  and  desire  to  become  possessors  of  the  truth  they  contain, 
through  the  enlightenment  of  the  same  Spirit  by  which  that  truth  was  originally 
given  forth  from  God;  without  such  enlightenment,  we  believe,  none  can  obtain 
a true  spiritual  knowledge  of  them. 

Fourth. — The  Divinity  of  Christ.  Convinced  that  the  divine  nature  in  the 
Christ  Spirit,  the  Word  “which  was  in  the  beginning,”  dwelt  in  Jesus  as  an 
unparalleled,  and  to  our  finite  preceptions,  an  immeasurable  degree,  we  regard 
Him  (as  John  G.  Whittier  has  formulated  it)  as  “the  highest  possible  manifes- 
tation of  God  in  man.” 

Fifth. — The  Christ  Rule  in  Daily  Life.  Desiring  the  guidance  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  which  was  in  Jesus,  and  embracing,  from  the  force  of  His  exam- 
ple, and  through  inward  convincement,  the  infinite  truth  He  illustrated  and 
taught,  Friends  see  in  it  the  ideal  of  a religious  life,  and  have  striven  to  make 
real  His  teachings — the  Spirit,  not  the  letter;  reality,  not  form;  love,  not  hatred; 
brotherly  kindness,  not  oppression;  moderation,  not  excess;  simplicity,  not 
ostentation;  sincerity,  not  pretense;  truth,  hot  deceit;  economy, not  waste;  and 
out  of  their  sincere,  if  unperfected,  endeavor  to  guide  their  daily  acts  by  these 
Christian  rules,  have  logically  and  directly  come  their  “testimonies,”  and  most, 
if  not  all,  of  their  “peculiarities.” 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


23 


These  statements  form  a body  of  belief,  a positive  and  de- 
finite faith.  They  are  not  a creed  in  the  ordinary  sense;  first, 
because  they  do  not  proceed  much  beyond  the  simple  and  essen- 
tial truths  of  the  Christian  religion;  and  second,  because  they 
have  never  been  officially  presented  as  a “confession”  or  “dec- 
laration ” of  the  society.  They  will  all  be  found  distinctly  set 
forth  in  the  works  of  those  who  are  recognized  as  the  society’s 
founders  and  leaders,  and  all  have  been  recognized  by  impartial 
and  acute  writers  outside  the  society  as  among  the  principles 
which  give  it  character  and  reason  for  being. 

This  state'ment  of  faith,  not  proceeding  to  consider  those 
theological  formulas  which  necessarily  are  abstract  and  specula- 
tive, and  which  therefore  are  largely  determined  in  each  mind  by 
many  influences  of  temperament  and  surroundings,  leaves  all  such 
to  individual  settlement.  No  one  is  to  be  persecuted  for  opin- 
ions concerning  them.  As  experience  has  shown,  at  every  step 
in  recorded  history,  while  there  may  be  a substantial  unity  of 
Christian  believers  so  far  as  concerns  the  essentials  of  Christian- 
ity, it  is  in  vain  that  complete  uniformity  of  belief  is  demanded. 
No  measures  of  severity  and  cruelty,  no  shedding  of  blood  or 
waste  of  treasure  has  ever  availed  to  bring  about  an  agreement 
upon  doctrinal  opinions  which  are  much  removed  from  primal 
truth.  Variations  of  view  being  thus  natural  and  unavoidable, 
perhaps  even  desirable,  the  charity  which  is  so  great  an  element 
in  Christian  conduct  must  cover  them  all.  This  body  of  Friends 
has  happily  been  preserved  by  this  rule  for  more  than  sixty  years, 
finding  brotherly  love  to  prevail  through  “diligence  to  keep  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.” 

Such  a unity  of  the  Spirit  is,  indeed,  a visible  sign  of  the  Qua- 
ker system.  Such  unity  existed  among  the  Christian  societies  of 
the  apostolic  time.  To  revive  the  spirituality,  the  simplicity  of 
that  day  has  been  a Quaker  aspiration.  The  doctrines  and  testi- 
monies of  friends,  when  faithfully  maintained,  says  Samuel  M. 
Janney,  “constitute  in  their  view  a revival  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity.” The  early  and  uncorrupted  church  had,  he  says,  these 
characteristics:  “A  pure  spiritual  worship;  a free  Gospel  min- 
istry; Religious  liberty;  a testimony  against  war  and  oppres- 
sion; a testimony  against  oaths;  a testimony  against  vain 
fashions,  corrupting  amusements,  and  flattering  titles.”  To  the 


24 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


analysis  thus  made  the  system  of  Friends  distinctly  corresponds. 
The  two  are  practically  identical.  The  worship  of  Friends,  in 
silence,  without  form  or  ceremony,  or  pre-arrangement  of  services; 
their  adherence  to  a free  ministry,  qualified  by  spiritual  baptism 
and  enlightenment;  their  charity  and  forbearance,  as  to  the  non- 
essentials  of  doctrine;  and  their  several  testimonies  against  war 
and  oppression,  the  taking  of  oaths,  and  the  vanities  and  cor- 
ruptions of  the  world,  are  a near  and  close  revival  of  the  primitive 
church. 

Friends,  it  is  true,  have  never  observed  the  “ordinances”  of 
water  baptism  and  the  supper.  Both  seem  to  them  outward, 
tending  to  the  worship  of  the  symbol  instead  of  the  thing  sym- 
bolized. So  far  as  either  of  them  has  virtue  or  value  it  must  be 
spiritual,  not  external  or  formal,  and  it  is  to  the  spiritual  baptism 
and  communion  that  Friends  aspire. 

Finally,  then,  let  us  speak  of  those  “logical  consequences”  of 
the  Quaker  principle  which  are  expressed  in  conduct.  As  to 
these  there  has  been  little  variation  of  opinion  among  the  dif- 
ferent bodies  of  Friends.  They  have  agreed  that  those  who  seek 
the  divine  guidance,  and  profess  a submission  to  it,  must  give 
evidence  of  the  fact  in  their  daily  walk.  It  is  asked,  says  Samuel 
M.  Janney,  “How  are  we  to  know  the  real  Friend?”  “How  shall 
we  distinguish  the  members  of  Christ’s  spiritual  body  from  those 
who  merely  pretend  to  His  name?”  There  have  been  those  who 
appeared  in  sheep’s  clothing,  but  in  fact  were  ravening  wolves. 
The  test  is  easy.  Jesus  Himself  has  supplied  it.  “By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them.”  “By  this  shall  all  men  know  ye  are  My 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another.” 

Conduct,  then,  not  profession,  must  be  the  proof  of  faith.  A 
people  spiritually  minded  must  show  spiritual  fruits.  “The  fruit 
of  the  spirit,”  says  Paul,  “is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  kind- 
ness, meekness,  temperance.”  “If  we  live  in  the  Spirit,”  he  adds, 
“let  us  walk  in  the  Spirit.” 

Judged,  then,  by  their  fruits,  where  do  Friends  stand?  It  is 
not  for  them  to  assert  their  own  merits.  Yet  they  cannot  shrink 
from  the  test — that  test,  indeed,  by  which  all  profession  of  relig- 
ion must  ultimately  be  tried.  The  unfruitful  tree,  that  cumbereth 
the  ground,  will  be  cut  down.  To  that  walk  in  life  which  Paul 
describes,  Friends  have  endeavored  to  attain.  Moved  thereto  by 
the  teachings  and  the  example  of  the  Divine  Master  and  by  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


25 


promptings  of  the  divine  influence  within  themselves,  they  found 
them  to  be  evidences  of  the  same  truth,  supporting  and  confirm- 
ing each  other. 

It  has  resulted,  therefore,  that  the  real  Friend  has  been  so- 
ber, earnest,  upright,  and  kindly.  The  world  thus  knows  him. 
Happily  there  have  been  enough  such  in  the  society  to  prove  the 
practicability  of  such  living,  even  under  conditions  far  harder 
than  those  of  today,  and  there  have  been  enough,  also,  to  exert 
an  appreciable  influence  upon  the  opinion  and  action  of  the  civil- 
ized-world. Friends  have  persevered.  Their  ethics,  conforming 
to  the  list  which  Paul  declared  to  the  Galatians,  have  been  those 
of  love,  of  peace,  of  long-suffering,  of  kindness,  of  meekness, 
and  of  temperance.  Would  this  be  anywhere  denied?  I think 
not.  They  have  dwelt  in  peace,  and  have  testified  to  it.  They 
have  opposed  war  and  have  testified  against  it.  They  have  suf- 
fered for  the  truth’s  sake,  whenever  persecution  arose.  They 
have  shown  brotherly  kindness  among  themselves,  and  have 
rebuked  the  spirit  of  oppression  wherever  their  voice  could  reach. 
They  have  upheld  the  beauty  of  a simple  and  sincere  life,  with- 
out vanity,  without  ostentation,  without  intemperance.  Long 
ago  they  began  to  cleanse  their  own  house  of  the  evils  which 
strong  drink  brought  in.  Long  ago  they  declared  and  began 
practically  to  establish  the  equal  rights  of  woman.  It  would  re- 
quire an  extension  of  this  analysis  far  beyond  present  possibili- 
ties to  do  justice  to  all  these  things.  Each  of  the  testimonies  of 
Friends  deserves  its  chapter,  for  each  has  its  seed  of  life  and 
virtue.  Pn  the  main  Friends  have  been  faithful  to  them  all.  Look- 
ing upon  the  world,  with  its  shams  and  frauds,  its  methods  of 
cruelty,  deceit  and  oppression,  its  worship  of  Baal,  its  tribute  to 
Ashtaroth,  its  bondage  to  Bacchus,  we  have  the  right  to  say  that 
the  Quaker  testimonies  have  not  only  pointed  the  way  to  a better 
state,  but  have  carried  those  who  were  faithful  to  them  a good 
distance  toward  it.  To  such  a system,  by  whatever  name  it  may 
be  called,  to  whomsoever  its  origin  may  be  referred,  the  world 
we  believe  must  ultimately  come.  Relief  for  the  ills  it  suffers  lies 
no  other  way.  It  can  be  saved  only  by  the  divine  processes.  No 
mechanical  re-adjustment  of  refractory  and  unregenerate  ele- 
ments will  avail;  there  must  be  a sublime  chemistry  by  which  all 
will  yield  to  the  solvent  of  love.  In  that  day,  who  can  doubt 
what  power  has  supplied  the  solvent? 


26 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


A Report  upon  the  Mission  Work  of  the 
Society  of  Friends. 


Joseph  J.  Janney. 


O condense  a statement  purporting  to  give  an  account  of  the 


1 work  of  the  Society  of  Friends  upon  the  lines  indicated,  so 
that  it  will  occupy  only  half  an  hour  in  its  delivery,  is  a task  of 
some  difficulty.  If  this  report  should  require  for  its  presentation 
a few  moments  more  than  the  time  limit  allowed,  I trust  it  will  be 
overlooked. 


ARBITRATION. 


By  reference  to  the  earliest  book  of  discipline  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  compiled  by  the  London  Yearly  Meeting  in  1692,  it  will 
be  seen  that  it  contains  a rule  providing  for  the  settlement  of 
all  differences  between  members  by  arbitration,  and  the  code  of 
discipline  adopted  by  every  other  yearly  meeting  since  established 
makes  this  equitable  and  rational  mode  of  adjustment  compulsory 
upon  its  members.  * 

George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  society,  as  early  as  1679,  in 
one  of  his  epistles  to  the  new  church,  said:  “ If  there  happen  any 
difference  between  Friend  and  Friend,  let  them  speak  to  one  an- 
other, and  if  they  will  not  hear,  let  them  take  two  or  three  of  the 
meeting  they  belong  to  that  they  may  end  it  if  they  can.  Or 
they  that  are  at  difference  may  choose  three  friends,  and  the 
meeting  choose  three  more,  and  let  them  stand  to  their  judgment.” 
This  recommendation,  it  will  be  seen,  is  based  on  the  law  laid 
down  by  Jesus  in  His  admonitions  to  His  disciples. 

Arbitration  as  a means  of  adjusting  civil  cases  only  was  recog- 
nized by  the  early  Romans,  and  was  also  used  by  the  magistrates 
for  the  settlement  of  equity  cases  during  the  Elizabethan  era  in 
England,  but  its  practical  use  to  any  extent  in  commercial  cases 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


27 


was  not  known  until  established  in  New  Castle,  England,  in  1793, 
by  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  who  were  quite  numerous 
at  that  time  and  who  were  largely  engaged  in  maritime  pursuits. 
Through  the  efforts  of  these  Friends  the  “New  Castle  upon  Tyne 
Association  for  General  Arbitration”  was  formed  in  that  year.  This 
was  a regularly  organized  court,  and  convened  four  times  in  the 
year  to  receive  and  decide  cases  arising  in  shipping  concerns, 
most  of  them  questions  not  covered  by  existing  laws. 

Through  the  efforts  of  Friends  in  Great  Britain  all  previous 
legal  regulations  of  arbitration  were  consolidated  by  an  act  of 
parliament  in  1824,  entitled  “An  act  to  consolidate  and  amend  the 
laws  relative  to  the  arbitration  of  disputes  between  master  and 
workman.”  This  condensed  statute  has  been  generally  availed 
of  during  the  past  twenty-five  years,  and  is  the  only  method  used 
to  determine  questions  that  are  delicate  and  intricate,  and  which 
are  constantly  occurring  between  employer  and  employe  in  the 
mining  districts  of  England  and  Wales,  by  which  they  can  be  and 
are  settled  rationally  and  amicably.  There  are  no  laws  govern- 
ing these  cases,  and  attempts  to  settle  trade  disputes  by  law  or 
by  a resort  to  force  only  widens  the  breach  between  capital  and 
labor  and  keeps  alive  the  apparently  irrepressible  conflict. 

The  steady  growth  of  the  application  of  the  system  of  arbi- 
tration, inaugurated  by  Friends  in  Hull  and  New  Castle,  has  been 
consistent  with  the  progress  cf  all  genuine  reform.  From  its  ac- 
ceptance by  the  individual  membership  of  the  society,  as  repre- 
senting the  true  and  Christlike  spirit  in  which  the  settlement  of 
a difference  should  be  approached,  to  its  acceptance  and  use  by 
the  commercial  bodies  of  the  large  centers  of  population,  was  not 
a long  step.  But  to  trace  its  progress  from  that  epoch,  on  through 
the  various  stages  of  its  growth  up  to  its  culmination  in  the  re- 
cent award  of  the  Behring  Sea  tribunal  of  international  arbitra- 
tion, is  to  take  a long  stride  in  the,  advancement  of  the  human 
family  toward  the  goal  of  “Peace  on  earth  and  good  will  to 
men.” 

There  are  those  living  now,  who  know  that  this  development 
has  not  been  the  result  of  chance,  or  that  it  has  been  achieved 
without  effort.  Societies  composed  of  the  best  and  purest  men 
and  women  of  the  present  century  have,  under  the  banner  of 
peace,  given  their  time  and  best  effort  to  the  establishment  of 


28 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


this  system.  Co-operating  with  these  societies  or  working  inde- 
pendently through  its  own  dedicated  messengers,  the  Society  of 
Friends  in  both  the  old  and  the  new  world  has  labored  consist- 
ently and  unceasingly  to  bring  about  and  permanently  establish 
a court  of  international  arbitration.  To  this  end  the  British  par- 
liament and  the  congress  of  the  United  States  have  been  memo- 
rialized from  time  to  time  and  successive  administrations  have 
been  appealed  to,  to  favor  the  enterprise. 

In  response  to  these  efforts  the  British  Mouse  of  Commons 
passed  a resolution  in  1872  instructing  the  foreign  secretary  “to 
enter  into  communication  with  foreign  powers  with  a view  to  the 
further  improvement  of  international  law  and  the  establishment 
of  a general  system  of  international  arbitration.” 

Other  important  differences,  national  and  international,  be- 
sides the  one  relative  to  the  Behring  Sea  seal  question,  have  been 
satisfactorily  determined  by  arbitration,  but  our  time  limit  pre- 
vents their  being  rehearsed  here.  These  have  demonstrated,  be- 
yond any  question,  the  practicability  of  the  system,  and  in  view  of 
the  readiness  with  which  all  awards  have  been  accepted  and 
complied  with,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  crime  of 
war  can  scarcely  ever  be  expiated. 

It  is  proper  to  record  that  courts  of  arbitration  are  established 
in  some  of  the  large  cities  of  the  United  States,  and  in  a very 
large  proportion  of  the  industrial  organizations  and  commercial 
exchanges  throughout  our  country  tribunals  of  arbitration  are 
provided,  before  which  differences  among  members  may  be 
settled  without  resorting  to  the  state  courts.  Referring  to  the 
adjudication  of  commercial  questions  by  this  method,  Chief  Justice 
Story  observed  that  it  was  “based  upon  principles  of  equity  and 
good  conscience  and  not  necessarily  upon  the  mere  dry  principles 
of  law  applicable  to  the  case.” 

Faithful  to  the  testimonies  and  traditions  of  our  fathers, 
Swarthmore  College  in  Philadelphia  has  established  as  a regular 
and  permanent  branch  of  study,  “The  elements  of  international 
law  with  especial  attention  to  the  important  objects  of  peace  and 
arbitration.” 

In  view  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the  past,  and  in  the 
light  and  knowledge  of  the  present  upon  this  subject,  may  we  not 
confidently  hope  that  war  is  even  now  a barbarous  relic  of  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


29 


past,  and  that  we  are  growing  toward  that  condition  so  beauti- 
fully expressed  by  Tennyson — 

“Then  shall  all  men’s  good 
Be  each  man  s rule,  and  universal  peace 
Sit  like  a shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 

And  like  a lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea 
Through  all  the  golden  circle  of  the  year.” 


PRISON  REFORM. 

In  no  department  of  philanthrophy  have  the  results  of  labor 
been  more  important  and  salutary  than  in  the  effort  to  establish 
a correct  prison  discipline.  The  prison  is  a result  of  the  advance- 
ment of  civilization,  and  the  growth  of  the  philanthropic  impulse 
among  the  people  has  elevated  the  system  of  prison  manage- 
ment to  a science.  There  is  nothing  in  the  earlier  methods  of 
punishment  that  is  of  value  to  us  as  a comparison,  so  that  in  our 
report  on  this  subject  we  need  not  regard  conditions  that  existed 
prior  to  the  eighteenth  century,  Indeed,  the  prison  management 
in  force  in  England  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  about  the 
time  of  our  Revolutionary  war,  was  as  bad  as  it  could  have  been 
at  any  previous  time. 

Eriends  entered  the  field  of  prison  reform  work  in  this 
country  in  1786,  when  a penitentiary  was  built  in  Philadelphia, 
through  their  influence,  and  the  method  of  management  adopted 
and  used  is  now  known  universally  as  the  Pennsylvania  system. 
It  has  stood  the  test  of  more  than  a century,  and  is  now  consid- 
ered the  best  system  ever  adopted  for  unruly  or  incorrigible 
prisoners.  It  provides  for  separate  confinement,  but  not  solitary. 
The  prisoners  are  prohibited  from  communicating  with  each 
other,  but  are  accessible  to  persons  whose  influence  would  be  ele- 
vating, and  who  would  endeavor  to  awaken  a desire  for  a better 
life. 

A Prison  Association  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  some 
years  before  the  Revolution,  composed  almost  entirely  of  Friends, 
and  it  is  in  existence  today.  The  object  of  this  society  was  to 
secure  the  improvement  of  prisons  and  bring  about  a reform  in 
the  care  and  management  of  prisoners. 

Piison  reform  work  among  Friends  in  England  commenced 
about  the  year  1813,  when  Elizabeth  Fry  entered  the  field,  and 


1 


30 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


with  a courage  and  determination,  quite  remarkable  in  a woman 
of  such  retiring  disposition  and  gentle  breeding,  wrought  a won- 
derful improvement  in  the  condition  of  prisons  in  many  parts  of 
the  country.  Her  attention  was  called  to  the  subject  by  Stephen 
Grellett  and  William  Forster,  who  visited  prisoners  awaiting  exe- 
cution in  Newgate  prison,  London,  and,  moved  by  their  report  of 
the  wretched  condition  of  those  confined  there,  she  went  with 
Anna  Buxton  to  see  for  herself.  The  horrible  sights  that  these 
women  beheld  have  been  recorded  in  history,  and  need  not  be 
dwelt  upon  here;  but  Elizabeth  Fry  discovered  that  her  life  work 
was  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  these  miserable  people,  and  to 
bring  to  the  attention  of  those  in  authority  the  pressing  need  of 
reform  in  the  management  of  prisons.  In  1817  she  was  instru- 
mental in  forming  an  “Association  for  the  Improvement  of  the 
Condition  of  the  Female  Prisoners  in  Newgate.” 

There  were  twelve  members  of  this  association,  all  women, 
and  all  but  one  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  It  was  emi- 
nently successful,  and  secured  the  approval  and  assistance  of  the 
government. 

Soon  after  this  another  association  for  prison  discipline  was 
formed,  composed  of  men,  and  all  were  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends.  These,  with  singleness  of  purpose  and  unfaltering 
courage,  went  about  the  country  visiting  prisons  and  reporting  as 
to  their  condition.  Sir  Fowell  Buxton  says,  in  reference  to  the 
inmates  of  prisons  about  this  time,  “ all  were  in  ill-health,  almost 
all  were  in  rags,  almost  all  were  filthy  in  the  extreme,  the  state 
of  the  prisons,  desperation  of  the  prisoners,  broadly  hinted  in 
their  conversation  and  plainly  expressed  in  their  conduct;  the 
uproar  of  oaths,  complaints  and  obscenity,  the  indescribable 
stench,  presented  together  a concentration  of  the  utmost  misery 
and  the  utmost  guilt.” 

The  Friends  laid  bare  the  existence  of  these  terrible  evils  and 
by  strenuous  effort  compelled  the  introduction  of  great  improve- 
ments, their  recommendations  being  ultimately  effective.  They 
demanded  that  women  officers  only  should  have  charge  of  women 
prisoners,  and  that  there  should  be,  at  all  times,  a separation  of 
the  sexes,  and  that  both  should  be  constantly  employed. 

The  wonderful  achievements  of  Elizabeth  Fry  in  connection 
with  prison  reform,  briefly  alluded  to  here  as  they  must  neces- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


3 


sarily  be,  have  placed  the  communities  wherein  she  labored  under 
a heavy  debt  of  gratitude.  She  was  the  central  figure  in  that  small 
group  of  philanthropists,  and  it  was  her  steadfastness  of  purpose, 
untiring  energy  and  great  personal  courage,  that  enabled  her  to 
bring  order,  sobriety  and  neatness  out  of  riot,  idleness,  licentious- 
ness and  filth. 

In  1845  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  a prominent  Friend  and  philan- 
thropist of  Philadelphia,  was  appointed  agent  for  the  Prisoners’ Aid 
Society,  of  New  York.  He  assisted  in  the  establishment  of  the 
“Home,”  which  was  designed  to  be  a temporary  refuge  for 
released  convicts.  This  Friend  was  most  active  and  vigilant  in 
the  field  of  prison  reform,  and  to  his  practical  mind  we  are 
indebted  for  some  important  legislation  upon  the  subject  of 
prison  discipline. 

From  1841  to  the  close  of  the  Civil  war,  the  work  of  Dorothea 
L.  Dix  stands  out  in  full  prominence  as  the  most  effective  and 
comprehensive  of  any  reformer  of  her  time.  Although  not  a 
Friend,  she  called  out  the  cordial  co-operation  of  Friends,  and 
they  gave  her  encouragement  and  substantial  help  in  some  of  her 
most  important  enterprises. 

In  more  modern  times  the  subject  of  prison  reform  has  received 
attention  from  the  various  bodies  of  Friends,  and  committees  have 
been  appointed  to  work  in  that  field  in  nearly  all  their  communi- 
ties. 

During  the  last  ten  years  especial  attention  has  been  directed 
to  the  appointment  of  police  matrons  at  the  station  houses  in 
our  large  cities.  Co-operating  with  other  bodies,  Friends  have 
done  some  important  work  in  this  direction.  The  legislatures  of 
New  York,  Maryland  and  Illinois  were  successfully  appealed 
to,  Friends  doing  their  full  share  of  the  work,  and  laws  were 
enacted  in  those  states  providing  for  matrons  at  the  station  houses 
in  the  larger  cities.  This  was  not  accomplished  without  the  most 
persistent  effort  and  after  years  of  earnest  labor. 

Although  so  much  has  been  accomplished  in  this  field  of  labor, 
and  those  who  have  been  workers  therein  can  reflect  upon  their 
efforts  with  a feeling  of  satisfaction,  yet  there  is  still  room  for 
improvement  in  the  prison  discipline  now  in  operation  in  many 
parts  of  the  land.  As  long  as  wardens  and  keepers  are  appointed 
as  a reward  for  political  activity  and  not  with  regard  to  their  fit- 


32 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


ness  for  the  delicate  and  responsible  duties  they  are  called  upon 
to  perform;  as  long  as  prisoners  are  kept  in  herds  and  allowed 
unrestrained  communication;  as  long  as  insane  paupers  are  con- 
fined in  almshouses;  as  long  as  any  boy  or  girl  can  be  committed 
to  the  jail;  as  long  as  there  is  a station  house  without  a matron; 
just  so  long  will  there  be  need  of  the  reformer. 

Friends  are  giving  this  subject  very  careful  thought,  and  they 
will  bring  to  bear  the  full  quota  of  their  influence  in  favor  of  a 
wholesome  prison  discipline  whenever  it  is  practicable  to  do  so. 


INDIAN  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  development  of  the  Indian  race  from  a condition  of  sav- 
agery to  one  of  partial  enlightenment  has  been  the  work  of  cent- 
uries. Contact  with  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the  constant  pressure  of 
a superior  intelligence  and  the  operation  of  the  law  of  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  are  agencies  that  have  culminated  in  the 
present  improved  status  of  the  red  man.  The  force  of  these  ac- 
cidental conditions  has  been  augmented  by  individual  effort  in 
various  directions,  and  in  this  work  of  elevating  the  Indians 
Friends  have  always  taken  an  advanced  position. 

The  society  had  barely  secured  for  itself  a foothold  upon  the 
shores  of  the  new  world,  before  it  recognized  the  existence  of  a 
problem  in  the  management  of  the  Indian  question  that  would 
not  be  easy  of  solution.  Friends  made  no  mistake  in  their  first 
attempt  to  negotiate  with  the  Indians,  as  the  provisions  of  the 
William  Penn  treaty  in  1682  will  demonstrate.  The  Indians, 
though  little  versed  in  the  white  man’s  methods  of  business, 
recognized  in  this  document  of  Penn  the  principles  of  fairness 
and  justice.  This  treaty  was  the  foundation  upon  which  Friends 
built  an  Indian  policy  that  has  endured  to  the  present  day. 

When  Friends  have  undertaken  to  teach  the  Indians,  they 
have,  as  a rule,  adopted  the  most  practical  methods  of  instruction. 

While  not  overlooking  the  necessity  of  a thorough  school 
education  for  the  children,  the  older  Indians  under  care  of 
Friends  have  been  encouraged  to  use  their  farming  implements 
and  learn  the  arts  of  agriculture,  as  being  the  most  important 
acquirement  iii  the  struggle  for  an  existence  that  seemed  to  be 
coming  upon  them.  Industrial  education  for  the  men  and  boys 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


33 


appeared  to  be  the  need  of  the  hour.  Model  farms  were  estab- 
lished by  Friends  on  some  of  the  reservations  as  early  as  1800, 
and  intelligent  farmers  placed  there  who  gave  practical  lessons  in 
the  different  branches  of  agriculture.  Much  attention  wras  given 
to  the  department  of  mechanics  through  the  establishment  of 
machine  shops,  where  competent  instructors  were  at  hand  to  give 
the  men  and  boys  lessons  in  the  use  of  machinery  in  its  applica- 
tion to  the  requirements  of  the  farm.  An  earnest  effort  was  made 
throughout  all  the  intercourse  that  was  maintained  between  the 
Friends  and  the  Indians,  to  inculcate  the  idea  of  the  dignity  of 
labor,  also,  to  induce  the  Indian  man  to  release  the  Indian 
woman  from  the  shackles  of  inferiority  and  from  the  position  of 
a menial,  and  elevate  her  to  her  proper  station  as  his  equal  and 
helpmate.  Religious  instruction  was  not  neglected,  although 
Friends  considered  it  proper  to  direct  the  attention  of  the  Indian 
first  to  those  subjects  relating  to  his  temporal  elevation.  No 
effort  was  made  at  any  time  to  build  up  the  church,  numerically, 
by  accessions  to  membership  from  among  the  Indians. 

To  proceed  chronologically,  the  first  point  of  contact  between 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and  the'Indians  was  in  1682, 
under  the  historic  elm  tree  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  From 
this  incident  has  proceeded  a train  of  events  that  forms  a record, 
and  while  it  is  far  from  startlingor  prominent,  it  is  creditable  to  the 
energy,  the  self-sacrifice  and  the  sense  of  justice  of  the  one,  and 
to  the  discernment  and  honesty  of  purpose  of  the  other. 

Until  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  a condition 
of  peace  prevailed  generally  between  the  colonists  and  the 
Indians.  Now,  however,  owing  to  the  rapid  increase  of  the  white 
population,  the  narrow  strip  of  land  along  the  Atlantic  Qcean, 
which  was  all  that  the  whites  could  honestly  claim,  became  urn 
comfortably  crowded,  and  they  undertook  to  move  the  westerq 
boundary  line  over  into  the  Indians’  hunting  grounds,  taking  in  q 
liberal  slice  of  their  territory.  Naturally,  the  Indians  resisted 
this  arbitrary  advance  into  their  domain,  and  thug  was  inaugur^ 
ated  a condition  of  hostility  between  the  races  that  has  prevailed 
with  greater  or  less  intensity  to  the  present  day.  The  wrong  wa§ 
on  the  part  of  the  white  man,  the  Indian  the  injured  party,  and 
Friends,  while  they  could  not  justify  the  Indian  in  forcibly  rer 
sisting  or  help  him  do  his  fighting,  used  every  peaceable  means* 
3 


34 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


in  their  power  to  prevent  the  arbitrary  encroachment  of  the 
whites  upon  his  property,  and  brought  all  the  influence  to  bear 
that  they  possessed  upon  the  authorities  to  compel  an  honest 
Indian  policy. 

The  irrepressible  movement  westward  of  the  boundary  line  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  dominion  was  now,  however,  the  most  evident  of 
all  tendencies.  Itwasonly  a questionof  method,  and  whilemethods 
were  being  discussed  the  thing  was  being  done.  A steady  press- 
ure was  kept  up,  the  Indians  offering  an  ineffectual  resistance 
until  they  were  pushed  across  the  Ohio  river  and  into  the  forest 
beyond.  In  1791  the  Indians  of  the  northwest  resolved  that  a 
limit  to  the  encroachment  of  the  whites  upon  their  territory  must 
be  fixed,  a permanent  line  established,  beyond  which  toward  the 
setting  sun  the  white  man  must  never  come.  They  were  unani- 
mous in  the  conclusion  that  the  Ohio  river  should  be  this  line, 
adhering  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  1768,  wherein  this  bound- 
ary line  was  fully  agreed  upon  and  ratified,  but  nothing  could  now 
stop  the  “Course  of  Empire”  as  “westward  it  took  its  way,”  and 
the  government  proceeded  to  enforce  its  view  of  the  question  by 
sending  a brave  general  against  the  Indians  with  enough  soldiers 
to  insure  success.  In  the  war  which  followed,  Friends,  of  course, 
took  no  part,  but  they  used  every  endeavor  to  secure  for  the  In- 
dians the  best  possible  terms,  when  the  inevitable  surrender  took 
place. 

Friends  rendered  valuable  assistance  to  the  Six  Nations  of 
New  York,  in  their  effort  to  save  their  lands  from  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  white  people  of  that  state.  In  this  contest  there  tvas 
no  actual  warfare,  and  the  government  pretended  to  acknowledge 
the  justice  of  the  appeal  made  by  the  Indians,  which  was  cor- 
dially seconded  and  presented  by  Philip  E.  Thomas  of  Baltimore 
and  other  Friends.  But  the  avarice  and  cunning  of  the  white 
men,  who  were  engaged  in  this  systematic  attempt  at  robbery, 
were  of  a superior  order,  and  they  were  able  finally  to  secure  such 
legislation  by  Congress  as  had  the  effect  to  alienate  all  the  lands 
of  the  Six  Nations  in  the  state  of  New  York  and  to  expatriate 
the  members  of  those  tribes  from  the  country  of  their  forefathers 
forever.  The  four  yearly  meetings  of  New  York,  Genesee, 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  appointed  a joint  committee  at  once 
and  united  with  the  Indians  in  a determined  effort  to  prevent  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


35 


ratification  of  the  proposed  treaty.  In  this  they  were  partially 
successful,  being  enabled  to  save  to  the  Six  Nations  a large  por- 
tion of  their  domain. 

During  the  twenty  years  from  1848  to  1868  Friends  were  un- 
remitting in  their  oversight  of  the  Indians.  Many  delegations 
visited  them  on  their  reservations  in  the  far  west,  personally  in- 
vestigated their  condition  and  reported  as  to  their  needs.  These 
journeys,  undertaken  often  by  men  of  advanced  age,  were  made 
under  conditions  of  great  personal  sacrifice  and  amid  extraor- 
dinary privation  and  discomfort.  Through  the  formation  of  aid 
societies,  in  the  different  communities  of  Friends,  a large  amount 
of  clothing,  and  other  needed  supplies,  was  forwarded  to  the 
Indians. 

In  1868  Friends  entered  with  great  cordiality  into  President 
Grant’s  peace  policy  and  co-operated  fully  with  the  movement. 
During  the  continuance  of  this  most  admirable  system,  many  of 
our  members  engaged  in  the  work  in  various  stations  under  ap- 
pointment by  the  President.  Other  denominations  were  also  repre- 
sented and  a marked  improvement  in  the  personnel  of  the  Indian 
service  was  the  result.  There  also  followed,  a§  a consequence,  a 
faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  those  who  were 
called  upon  to  enforce  the  details  of  all  contracts  between  the 
Indians  and  those  with  whom  they  had  to  deal.  This  effort  of 
President  Grant  to  lift  the  Indian  department  out  of  the  realm  of 
politics  and,  while  retaining  control  of  it,  permit  the  machinery 
to  be  run  by  pronounced  and  acknowledged  friends  of  the  Indians, 
called  forth  the  active  hostility  of  the  politicians.  It  was  as  clear 
as  any  demonstration  could  possibly  be  made  that,  if  that  method 
of  work  was  continued,  the  solution  of  the  Indian  problem  was 
not  far  distant;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  the  enemies  of  the  sys- 
tem united  in  an  effort  to  secure  its  overthrow,  which  was  grad- 
ually, but  surely,  accomplished.  Since  the  re-introduction  into 
the  service  of  political  methods,  Friends  have  not  taken  an  active 
part  in  agency  work. 

During  the  past  fifteen  years  Friends  have  directed  their 
efforts  mainly  to  having  a general  oversight  of  the  subject,  to  in- 
fluencing legislation  by  congress  in  the  direction  of  wholesome 
laws  and  in  endeavoring  to  secure  a compliance  with  treaty  obli- 
gations. They  have  also  during  the  past  eight  years  advocated 


36 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


a system  of  field  matron  work,  by  which  the  Indian  women  may 
be  taught  the  art  of  housekeeping.  This  has  been  considered  by 
the  best  friends  of  the  Indian  one  of  the  most  important  fields  of 
labor  now  open  to  the  philanthropist. 

In  their  intercourse  with  the  Indian  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment, which  has  ever  been  most  cordial  and  pleasant,  Friends 
have  stood  for  that  policy  which  implies  the  ultimate  full  citizen- 
ship of  the  Indian;  the  breaking  up  of  the  tribal  relation,  and  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  the  family  relation.  They  have 
insisted  that  the  Indian  shall  be  made  to  understand  that  in  shar- 
ing the  privileges  of  citizenship  he  must  also  help  to  bear  its  bur- 
dens, and  that  he  ought  speedily  to  be  convinced  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  the  old  conditions  to  continue  much  longer,  that  the 
tide  of  civilization  sweeping  ever  onward  will  crush  and  utterly 
destroy  him  unless  he  accepts  the  generous  offer  of  education  held 
out  by  the  government.  If  they  see  and  accept  these  facts,  there 
is  no  reason  why  they  may  not  as  integral  elements  of  society 
become  prosperous  and  happy. 


NEGRO  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  circumstances  that  have  marked  the  progress  of  the 
negro  race  from  slavery  to  freedom  form  an  interesting  study 
for  the  student  of  human  nature.  The  barbarity  of  their  capture 
in  Africa,  the  horrors  attending  their  transportation  and  the  cruelty 
and  oppression  of  their  captivity  in  America,  make  a foundation 
for  the  story  that,  no  matter  what  the  subsequent  events  ma^  be, 
must  ever  be  one  of  shame  and  humiliation  to  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

How  glad  we  would  be,  if,  in  our  report  of  the  connection  of 
Friends  with  the  work  of  negro  development,  we  could  claim  for 
them  that  consistency  and  that  faithfulness  to  the  full  significance 
of  the  testimonies  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  their  earliest  preach- 
ers, as  marked  their  conduct  in  matters  less  practical. 

In  the  clearer  light  which  in  this  day  shines  about  our  path- 
way, we  marvel  that  any  faithful  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
could  hold  his  fellowman  in  bondage;  could  live  in  contentment 
upon  the  fruits  of  his  unrequitted  toil.  But  it  is  a fact  that  up  to 
the  year  1770  Friends  had  not  taken  a positive  and  unequivocal 
Stand  upon  the  slavery  question,  although  prior  to  this  date  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


37 


concern  upon  the  subject  was  kept  alive  in  the  meetings  and 
claimed  their  earnest  and  unceasing  care. 

In  1774  the  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting  reached  the  point  of 
advising  its  members  to  “ release  from  captivity  such  of  their  slaves 
as  shall  be  found  suitable  for  liberty.”  Two  years  afterward,  “ under 
the  calming  influence  of  pure  love  and  with  great  unanimity,”  it 
reached  the  conclusion  that  slaveholding  among  its  members 
could  no  longer  be  permitted,  but  that  “ where  any  continue  to 
reject  the  advice  of  their  brethren  and  refuse  to  execute  proper 
instruments  of  writing  for  releasing  from  a state  of  slavery,  such 
as  are  in  their  power,”  Monthly  meetings  after  having  discharged 
a Christian  duty  to  such  should  testify  their  disunity  with  them. 

Thus,  in  the  year  1776,  coincident  with  the  declaration  of  the 
American  people  that  “ all  men  are  created  equal  and  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  the  inalienable  right  of  liberty,”  Friends 
reached  the  conclusion  that  “ those  of  the  African  race  who  were 
under  their  control  must  be  granted  the  same  rights  that  they 
claimed  for  themselves.” 

In  New  England  Friends  labored  earnestly  to  clear  themselves 
from  the  stigma  of  a complicity  with  slavery,  and  many  testi- 
monies were  issued  upon  the  subject;  but  it  was  not  until  1782 
that  the  meeting  could  make  this  statement.  “ We  know  not  but 
all  the  members  of  the  meeting  are  clear  of  that  iniquitous  prac- 
tice of  holding  or  dealing  with  mankind  as  slaves.” 

In  New  York,  Friends  reached  the  point  of  positive  action  on 
the  slavery  question  in  1777,  after  many  years  of  patient  labor 
with  its  slaveholding  members. 

In  Maryland,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  the  progress  of  this 
testimony  was  more  gradual  than  in  the  northern  colonies.  As 
late  as  1760  the  yearly  meeting  held  in  Maryland  declared  that 
“Friends  were  not  fully  ripe  to  carry  the  minute  further  than 
against  being  concerned  in  the  importing  of  negroes.”  It  was  not 
until  about  1790  that  Friends  were  induced  to  manumit  all  their 
slaves,  and  thus  clear  themselves  as  a people  from  participation 
in  the  slave  system. 

The  society  was  now  deeply  concerned  about  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  condition  of  the  negroes  who  had  been  set  free, 
and  committees  were  appointed  in  many  of  the  meetings  to  have 
a care  of  them.  The  protection  and  improvement  of  the  colored 


38 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


race  from  this  time  on  formed  an  important  part  of  the  philan- 
thropic work  of  the  society. 

Many  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  Friends  joined 
the  anti-slavery  societies  that  were  formed  about  the  opening  of 
the  present  century,  and  gave  their  time  and  talents  to  the  cause 
of  freedom. 

About  the  time  of  the  Civil  war  the  condition  of  ignorance 
and  degradation  of  the  freedmen  became  a living  concern  in  the 
society  generally.  The  comprehension  of  the  term  “freedom,” 
by  the  average  southern  negro,  differed  from  that  intended  to  be 
conveyed.  He  understood  it  to  mean  absence  of  work,  the 
opportunity  to  exist  without  labor,  provision  for  all  his  wants  in 
some  mysterious  way;  in  a word,  idleness.  From  this  dream 
he  had  to  be  awakened,  roused  to  the  necessity  of  labor  and 
enlightened  to  the  importance  of  education. 

No  organized  action  was  taken  for  the  establishment  of  schools 
for  the  freedmen  in  the  south  until  the  formation  in  Philadelphia 
of  “Friends  Association  for  the  Aid  and  Elevation  of  the  Freed- 
men.” This  association  established  twenty-five  schools  in  the 
south  for  the  education  of  the  freedmen  and  provided  teachers 
for  them,  although  it  was  with  difficulty  that  qualified  persons 
could  be  persuaded  to  enter  the  field  in  the  face  of  the  social 
ostracism  that  awaited  them. 

A very  large  amount  of  clothing  and  other  supplies  was  col- 
lected and  forwarded  to  the  neighborhoods  where  these  schools 
were,  as  the  negroes  were  entirely  dependent  upon  sources  of 
supply  beyond  themselves  for  even  the  barest  necessities  of  life. 
From  1863  to  1871  about  $60,500  were  expended  in  providing  for 
these  schools,  over  48,000  garments  having  been  forwarded  to 
the  south.  In  addition  to  this,  a very  large  amount  of  clothing 
was  contributed  and  sent  by  Friends  outside  of  the  association 
and  in  other  places,  of  which  no  record  can  be  found.  Since  1871 
about  $20,000  in  money  and  500  packages  of  clothing  have  been 
sent  south  for  the  support  of  these  schools  by  this  association. 
The  number  of  the  schools  has  decreased  to  thirteen. 

The  “Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society,”  a majority  of  whom 
are  Friends,  provides  about  $1,200  annually  for  the  support  of 
the  southern  schools,  and  has  also  the  “ Parrish  fund  ” in  its 
charge,  the  income  from  which  is  applied  to  the  assistance  of 
institutions  for  colored  people  in  Pennsylvania. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


39 


It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  progress  of  the  Afro-American 
toward  good  morals  and  a higher  mental  development  has  been 
disappointing.  How  far  he  is  himself  to  blame  for  this  is  a ques- 
tion we  need  not  discuss,  but  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  our 
government  cannot  escape  a large  share  of  responsibility  for  the 
ignorance  and  immorality  of  the  colored  -people  of  the  south 
today.  The  first  duty  of  the  nation,  after  the  freedom  of  the 
negro  was  accomplished  by  its  act,  was  to  qualify  him  for  its 
enjoyment.  Freedom  was  no  blessing  to  an  ignorant  and 
dependent  negro. 

Friends  have,  in  a quiet  way  and  to  the  extent  of  their  means, 
as  members  of  a Christian  church  and  as  citizens,  endeavored  to 
discharge  their  duty  to  the  freedmen  in  these  particulars,  but  we 
feel  they  still  have  strong  claims  upon  our  sympathy  and 
substantial  help. 


TEMPERANCE. 

About  the  time  of  the  rise  of  the  Society  of  Friends  the  use 
of  alcoholic  liquors  as  a beverage  was  as  common  among  its 
members  as  any  other  body  of  professing  Christians,  but  instances 
of  intoxication  thereby  were  rare.  Its  membership  was  composed 
of  thoughtful,  earnest  and  devoted  people,  not  addicted  to  ex- 
cesses of  any  kind,  except  it  may  have  been  in  some  instances  an 
excess  of  zeal  for  the  establishment  and  prosperity  of  their  church. 
Their  preachers  denounced  wine  bibbing  and  drunkenness,  and 
called  the  people  to  moderation  and  temperance  in  the  use  of  all 
those  things  which  a benificent  Creator  had  bestowed  upon  His 
creatures,  among  which  bestowals  wine,  beer  and  other  alcoholic 
liquors  were  regarded  as  having  an  innocent  place.  The  excess- 
ive use  of  strong  drink  was  a clearly  recognized  evil,  and  against 
the  practice  Friends  bore  a testimony;  but  the  promulgation  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Society,  during  the  earlier  years  of  its  exist- 
ence, so  fully  absorbed  the  attention  of  its  preachers  that  this 
subject  seems  to  have  been  otherwise  disregarded.  Almost  entire 
indifference  to  the  importance  of  the  matter,  and  its  bearing 
upon  the  welfare  of  the  human  family  by  teachers  and  preachers 
of  all  denominations,  was  felt  for  many  years,  in  fact  up  to  the 
opening  of  the  eighteenth  century 


40 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


The  first  instance  of  a realization  by  Friends  of  the  necessity 
of  taking  action  upon  the  subject,  occurred  in  the  year  1679,  when 
they  undertook  to  prevent  the  delivery  of  rum  to  the  Indians  of 
Pennsylvania  in  exchange  for  their  lands.  Not  having  ques- 
tioned the  propriety  of  its  moderate  use  among  themselves,  it  is 
not  strange  that  they  had  failed  to  foresee  the  terrible  destruct- 
iveness of  its  introduction  among  the  Indians.  Having  been 
convinced  that  the  traffic  was  wrong  and  demoralizing  Friends 
proceeded  at  once  to  arrest  it.  In  1685  the  following  rule  was 
adopted:  “This  meeting  does  unanimously  agree,  and  give  as 
their  judgment,  that  it  is  not  consistent  with  the  honor  of  truth, 
for  any  that  make  profession  thereof,  to  sell  rum  or  other  strong 
liquors  to  the  Indians,  because  they  use  them  not  to  moderation 
but  to  excess  and  drunkenness.”  The  agitation  of  this  phase  of 
the  subject  was  continued  for  more  than  twenty  years;  the  dif- 
ferent meetings  of  Friends  urging  upon  their  members  the  impor- 
tance of  taking  some  measures  to  protect  the  Indians  against  the 
terrible  effects  of  strong  drinks.  Finally,  in  1710,  in  a council 
held  for  the  consideration  of  the  matter,  at  which  eight  of  the 
principal  Indian  chiefs  were  present,  it  was  fully  agreed  that  the 
practice  should  be  discontinued.  We  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  this  agreement  was  ever  violated  by  Friends,  but  the  Indians 
had  now  formed  an  appetite  for  liquor  and  there  were  many 
ways  by  which  they  could  obtain  it. 

In  the  year  1711  Friends  became  exercised  concerning  the 
sale  of  liquor  near  the  meeting  houses,  and  memorials  were  pre- 
sented to  the  legislature  asking  that  this  be  prohibited  by  law. 
These  appeals  were  not  successful  and  it  was  not  until  recent  years 
that  this  kind  of  legislation  was  favored. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  Friends  began  to  feel  a concern 
about  the  habits  of  their  own  members  in  this  direction,  and  to 
consider  if  even  the  moderate  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  did  not 
lead  to  evil  results.  They  issued  officially  the  mild  advice,  “that 
none  accustom  themselves  to  vain  and  idle  company,  sipping  and 
tippling  of  drams  and  strong  drink  in  inns  and  elsewhere,  for  though 
such  as  use  that  evil  practice  may  not  suddenly  be  prevailed 
upon  to  be  drunk  to  the  greatest  degree,  yet  they  often  influence 
themselves  thereby  so  as  to  become  fitted  for  the  greatest  trans- 
gressions.” This  minute  was  the  commencement  of  an  effort  by 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


41 


the  society  to  clear  itself  of  the  stigma  of  a participation  in  the 
habit  of  drinking,  and  the  business  of  selling  alcoholic  beverages. 
That  effort  has  been  earnest  and  unremitting. 

In  1795,  1799,  1803  and  1810,  repeated  injunctions  were  issued 
to  subordinate  meetings  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  have  their 
members  abstain  from  the  distillation,  use  of,  or  traffic  in  spirit- 
uous liquors,  and  in  1812  it  was  made  a disownable  offense.  From 
1820  there  was  a continually  increasing  concern  on  the  subject, 
and  about  1870  the  phraseology  of  the  testimony  was  changed 
from  “spirituous  liquors”  to  “intoxicating  drinks,”  thus  including 
malt  liquors.  The  agitation  of  the  subject  in  the  different  yearly 
meetings,  and  the  increasing  caution  extended  by  those  whose 
minds  were  now  fully  awakened  to  the  importance  of  the  matter,, 
gradually  produced  a sentiment  almost  unanimously  hostile  to' 
any  recognition  or  indorsement  of  the  sale  or  use  of  liquor  as  a 
beverage. 

It  was  the  work  of  many  years;  for,  although  Friends  readily 
admitted  the  terrible  evils  that  grew  out  of  it,  they  did  not  as. 
readily  unite  upon  the  proposition  that  the  only  method  by  which 
these  evils  could  be  prevented  was  the  total  suppression  of  the 
traffic.  It  was  not  until  1881  that  the  following  minute  was 
adopted  by  one  of  the  eastern  yearly  meetings:  “Believing  as 
we  do  that  much  of  the  suffering  in  this  life  is  attributable  to  a 
violation  of  the  physical  laws  of  our  being,  and  deeply  impressed 
with  a sense  of  the  importance  of  a more  thorough  diffusion  of 
knowledge  with  regard  to  the  poisonous  effects  of  alcoholic  stim- 
ulants upon  the  human  system,  it  is  proposed  that  the  yearly 
meeting  take  into  serious  consideration  the  appointment  of  a 
committee,  whose  aim  shall  be  to  aid  by  every  means  in  their 
power  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  end.  It  is  proposed,  for 
the  sake  of  the  mothers,  that  they  may  not,  by  the  administration 
of  stimulants,  injure  the  tender  plants  committed  to  their  care;  for 
the  children,  that  they  may,  in  their  ripening  years,  be  shielded 
from  the  temptations  that  surround  them;  for  ourselves,  that  we 
may,  as  a people,  stand  before  the  world  clean  handed,  setting  an 
example  of  faithfulness  in  our  testimony  against  the  use  of  intox- 
icants.” 

About  this  time  similar  statements  were  made  by  several 
yearly  meetings,  and  the  society  soon  assumed  a radical  position 
on  the  questign. 


42 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


It  can  be  reported  now  that,  except  in  a very  few  cases  of 
grocers  selling  bottled  liquors,  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  are  not  implicated  in  the  sale  of  intoxicants. 

In  the  general  work  of  temperance  reform,  the  Society  of 
Friends  brings  its  influence  to  bear  mainly  through  its  Philan- 
thropic Union.  This  organization  represents  our  entire  body  of 
Friends  in  the  United  States,  and  acts  officially  on  the  temper- 
ance question  through  a sub-committee,  whose  duty  it  is  to  enter 
specially  into  that  field  of  labor.  Through  this  orgaization,  the 
society  has  used  all  proper  means,  acting  independently  or  in  co- 
operation with  other  bodies  having  similar  objects,  to  secure  the 
passage,  by  state  and  national  legislatures,  of  laws  for  the  restric- 
tion or  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  liquor.  Whenever  any  influence 
could  be  brought  to  bear  by  the  employment  of  lecturers  or  the  dis- 
tribution of  literature,  this  committee  has  seized  the  opportunity 
and  has  been  awake  to  the  duty  of  creating  temperance  sentiment 
in  all  possible  directions. 

Friends  have  been  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  hope  of  the 
country  is  in  the  children,  and  with  that  view,  have  advocated  the 
introduction  of  temperance  text  books  in  all  the  schools.  By 
earnest  and  persistent  effort,  a large  majority  of  the  state  legisla- 
tures have  been  induced  to  enact  laws  compelling  the  use  of 
these  text  books,  showing  the  effects  of  alcohol  upon  the  human 
system.  That  this  will  tend  to  the  establishment  of  a healthy 
public  sentiment  there  can  be  no  question,  for  the  mind  of  the 
child  fortified  in  advance  with  instruction  from  a scientific  stand- 
point, as  to  the  evil  effect  of  alcohol  upon  blood  and  brain  and 
tissue,  will  not  readily  submit  to  its  use  as  a beverage  when  the 
temptation  shall  have  been  presented. 

At  the  present  time  it  is  the  (almost?)  unanimous  sentiment 
among  Friends  that  this  question  is  the  most  important  one  that 
is  presented  to  the  people  of  this  nation,  and  in  view  of  the  dis- 
astrous effect  of  the  liquor  traffic  upon  the  moral  and  physical 
wellfare  of  our  citizens,  its  complete  suppression  is  imperatively 
demanded. 

It  is  clear,  from  this  review,  that  the  Society  of  Friends,  as 
an  organization  during  the  past  twenty-five  years,  has  been  far 
more  active  in  the  various  fields  of  philanthropy  than  it  ever  was 
in  the  distant  past,  although  many  of  its  members  have  been  con- 
spicuous in  those  fields  individually. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


43 


As  a body,  it  has  advanced  from  words  alone,  to  words  and 
works  combined;  it  has  progressed  from  theories  alone  to  theory 
and  practice  allied.  This  is  the  growth  that  we  are  conscious  of 
today,  and  it  may  be  stated,  as  a leading  thought  of  the  society, 
that  its  membership  may  perfect  their  own  lives,  and,  while  doing 
so,  contribute  whatever  they  may  to  make  better  and  happier  the 
lives  of  their  fellowmen. 


mik 

W 


44 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Education  in  the  Religious  Society  of 
Friends.* 

Edward  H.  Magill,  LL.  D. 


I PROPOSE  to  give  some  account  of  the  principal  colleges, 
boarding  schools  and  other  educational  institutions  con- 
ducted by  Friends,  from  the  time  of  the  rise  of  the  Society,  about 
1647,  to  the  present  day.  I shall  treat  of  these  institutions  in  the 
chronological  order  of  their  opening  so  far  as  it  can  be  ascer- 
tained. In  this  account  I shall  attempt  to  include  all  of  the  most 
important  educational  institutions  of  Friends,  and  it  should  be 
observed  that  I use  the  beautiful  and  simple  term  Friends  un- 
accompanied by  any  qualifying  word,  to  which  divisions  in  the 
society  have  sometimes  given  rise.  All  branches  of  the  Society 
claim  the  name  of  Friends,  and  I prefer  to  accept  their  claim,  and 
this  is  done  with  no  desire  to  arrogate  for  any  particular  branch 
of  the  Society  any  of  the  credit  which  may  be  due  for  the  influ- 
ence of  any  of  the  educational  institutions  named.  I have  ear- 
nestly endeavored  to  treat  all  impartially,  and  I sincerely  hope 
that  Friends  will  be  satisfied  with  the  result.  When  it  is  consid- 
ered how  widely  the  materials  for  this  historical  account  are  scat- 
tered, and  that  no  attempt  at  any  systematic  collection  has  ever 
been  previously  made  to  my  knowledge,  I may  reasonably  ask 
for  kind  consideration  for  any  errors  or  omissions  which  may  in- 
advertently have  occurred. 

After  presenting  the  various  institutions  in  their  chronological 
order,  with  such  brief  consideration  as  they  may  seem  respect- 
ively to  claim  and  as  the  limit  of  this  paper  will  permit,  I pro- 
pose to  close  by  a general  summary  and  the  presentation  of  such 
salient  points  in  the  methods  and  results  of  education  among 
Friends  as  shall  have  been  suggested  by  the  consideration,  in  de- 
tail, of  the  different  institutions. 

*This  article,  owing  to  its  length,  was  read  only  in  part,  but  from  its  historic  value  we 
print  the  entire  paper. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


45 


RISE  OF  FRIENDS,  1647. 

It  was  in  the  year  1647  that  George  Fox,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  began  to  assemble  large  bodies  of  seekers  after  the 
Truth  by  his  earnest  preaching  of  the  simple  faith  of  the  early 
Christians. 

From  the  very  first,  Friends  have  felt  a deep  and  abiding  in- 
terest in  the  proper  education  of  their  children,  and  to  secure 
this  most  desirable  result  schools  under  their  own  care  were  early 
established. 

FIRST  BOARDING  SCHOOLS,  1667. 

The  first  of  these,  of  which  we  have  any  account,  are  men- 
tioned on  page  316,  of  the  Folio  Edition  of  the  Journal  of  George 
Fox,  printed  in  1694.  The  time  referred  to  was  1667,  or  only 
twenty  years  after  the  first  congregations  of  Friends  had  been 
assembled,  and  the  reference  is  made  in  these  words:  “Then 
returning  toward  London  by  Waltham,  I advised  the  setting  up 
of  a school  there  for  teaching  boys,  and  also  a woman’s  school 
to  be  set  up  at  Schacklewell  for  instructing  girls  and  young  maid- 
ens in  whatever  things  were  civil  or  useful  in  the  creation.”  This 
comprehensive  language  reminds  us  of  the  words  of  Ezra  Cornell 
in  establishing,  in  these  later  days,  Cornell  University,  where 
“any  one  may  study  any  thing  on  any  subject.”  But  the  training 
of  the  intellect  alone  was  never  made,  with  Friends,  a primary 
object.  The  head  of  this  school  for  boys  was  Christopher  Tay- 
lor, who  is  described  as  “a  man  of  learning  and  piety.”  (Annual 
Monitor,  1843,  P-  n6.)  But  in  his  responsible  duties  he  found  a 
most  valuable  co-worker  in  John  Matern,  of  Germany,  who  “ap- 
pears to  have  been  a man  of  learning,  having  been  educated  in 
the  colleges  of  his  country,  and  designed  for  the  office  of  a 
priest.”  He  was  one  of  those  who  were  turned  to  the  principles 
of  Friends  by  the  preaching,  in  Germany,  of  the  despised  and 
persecuted  Quakers. 

It  was  through  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  that  Matern  came 
over  to  England,  where  he  soon  entered  the  family  of  Christo’- 
pher  Taylor,  in  1674,  and  remained  with  him  in  the  school  (sub- 
sequently removed  to  Edmonton)  until  his  death,  in  1680.  Of 
him  it  is  said  by  William  Pennington,  who  was  then  a student  in 
the  Edmonton  school,  “He  was  a man  that  truly  feared  the  Lord, 


46 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


and  was  an  instrument  in  His  hand  in  his  day  for  the  help  of 
others.  He  labored  daily  for  us,  his  scholars,  both  for  our  souls 
and  bodies.  He  taught  us  with  diligence,  that  we  might  not 
frustrate  the  intent  of  our  coming  to  the  school  as  to  our  learn- 
ing*, and  prayed  continually  to  the  Lord  that  we  might  be  edified 
ag  to  our  inward  condition.”  From  the  language  of  Samuel  Tuke, 
in  a paper  read  at  Ackworth,  in  1838,  on  “The  past  proceedings 
and  experience  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  connection  with  the 
education  of  youth,”  it  is  clear  that  throughout  its  history  there 
were,  as  he  says,  in  active  operation  at  the  Edmonton  school,  “the 
three  most  powerful  means  by  which  good  men  have  been  en- 
abled to  promote  the  work  of  grace  in  others,  namely,  example, 
precept  and  prayer.” 

I have  dwelt  somewhat  fully  upon  this  first  boarding  school 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  because  I deemed  it  important  to  thus 
emphasize,  in  the  beginning,  the  fact  that  the  primary  object  of 
schools  among  Friends  has  been,  not  the  giving  of  the  needed 
instruction  in  the  languages,  the  mathematics  and  the  sciences, 
however  important  these  studies  may  be  in  their  place,  but  the 
training  up  of  good  men  and  women. 

It  will  also  be  observed  that  the  equality  of  facilities  for 
instruction  offered  to  both  sexes  among  Friends,  which  has 
always  been  characteristic  of  their  methods  of  education,  is  hinted 
at  in  this  first  movement  of  George  Fox,  in  which  he  also  sug- 
gests the  establishment  of  what  he  calls  a “women’s  school.”  It 
was  left  for  these  later  days  of  greater  advancement  to  incorpor- 
ate with  this  idea  of  equality  that  of  complete  co-education,  now 
being  so  successfully  carried  out. 

In  a very  few  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  first  board- 
ing school,  by  the  advice  of  George  Fox,  there  were  at  least  fifteen 
others  set  up  in  England,  of  which  two  were  for  girls  only  and 
two  (perhaps  four)  for  boys  and  girls. 

FIRST  CORPORATE  ACTION  ON  EDUCATION,  1672. 

In  1672  a proposal  was  brought  before  the  so-called  “ six 
weeks’  meeting,”  in  London,  to  erect  a school  for  teaching  poor 
Friends’  children,  “ gratis.”  This  proposal  was  unanimously 
agreed  to,  and  a committee  was  appointed  to  carry  it  out.  The 
master  was  to  be  “ well  skilled  in  Latin,  writing  and  arithmetic.’ 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


47 


This  appears  to  be  the  first  corporate  action  of  the  society  on  the 
subject  of  education. 

EDUCATION  OF  POOR  GIRLS,  GRATIS,  1677. 

In  1677  a committee  was  appointed  by  the  same  meeting  to 
provide  for  the  admission  of  girls  to  the  school  at  Shacklewell  on 
the  same  terms  (“gratis  for  poor  children”),  and  each  monthly 
meeting  was  directed  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  the  education  of  the 
poor  of  its  own  members. 

SUGGESTION  OF  GEORGE  FOX. 

The  same  meeting  (about  the  same  time,  date  not  given)  con- 
sidered a proposition  made  by  George  Fox,  that  a school  should 
be  established  “to  teach  the  languages,  together  with  the  nature 
of  herbs,  roots,  plants  and  trees.”  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the 
practical  instruction,  so  characteristic  of  Friends’  schools,  was 
shadowed  forth  thus  early  in  this  proposition  of  George  Fox  to 
introduce  the  study  of  natural  history. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  PHILADELPHIA,  l682. 

And  in  this  country,  Friends  had  no  sooner  effected  their 
early  settlement  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1682,  than  they  began  to 
take  public  measures  for  the  promotion  of  education.  The  fol- 
lowing minute  of.  a council  in  Philadelphia,  held  on  the  18th 
of  Tenth  mo.,  1683,  is  of  sufficient  interest  and  importance  to 
claim  a place  in  this  paper. 

EARLY  ATTENTION  OF  FRIENDS  TO  EDUCATION,  1 683. 

The  governor  (William  Penn)  and  council  having  taken  into 
their  serious  consideration  the  necessity  there  is  for  the  instruc- 
tion and  sober  education  of  youth  in  the  town  of  Philadelphia 
sent  for  Enoch'  Flower,  an  inhabitant  of  said  town,  who,  for 
twenty  years  past,  hath  been  exercised  in  that  care  and  employ- 
ment in  England,  to  whom  having  communicated  their  minds,  he 
embraced  it  upon  the  following  terms: 


To  learn  to  read  English 4 s.  by  the  quarter 

To  learn  to  read  and  write 6 s.  by  the  quarter 

To  learn  to  read  and  write  and  cast 8 s.  by  the  quarter 


“For  boarding  a scholar,  that  is  to  say,  diet,  washing,  lodging  and  school- 
ing, .£10  for  the  whole  year.” 


48 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


FRIENDS  PUBLIC  SCHOOL,  1689. 

What  was  first  denominated  the  “ Friends  Public  School  ” 
was  opened  in  Philadelphia  in  1689,  and  incorporated  by  Deputy 
Governor  Markham  in  1697.  Three  successive  charters  were 
granted  this  school  by  William  Penn  in  1701,  1708  and  1711. 
These  three  original  charters  all  state  that  the  school  is  founded 
“at  the  request,  cost  and  charges  of  the  people  of  God  called 
Quakers,”  and  they  carefully  provide  that  while  “ the  rich  are  re- 
ceived or  admitted,  taught  and  instructed  at  reasonable  rates,  the 
poor  are  to  be  maintained  and  schooled  for  nothing.”  The  care 
of  Friends  in  this  respect  in  all  of  their  educational  work  is 
worthy  of  special  attention. 

THE  WILLIAM  PENN  CHARTER  SCHOOL,  1689. 

The  William  Penn  Charter  School,  of  Philadelphia,  is  the 
lineal  descendant  of  the  original  “Friends  Public  School,”  and  it 
is  now  managed  by  corporators  holding  their  appointment  under 
the  third  charter,  granted  by  William  Penn  in  1711.  Although 
this  charter  does  not  restrict  membership  in  the  corporation  to 
any  particular  denomination,  the  present  corporators  are  all 
Friends,  and  the  school  is  managed  in  accordance  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  Friends;  and  the  students,  as  is  usual  in  Friends’  schools, 
regularly  attend  midweek  meeting.  The  whole  number  of  stu- 
dents the  past  year,  1892,  was  406.  The  organization  is  modeled 
after  the  best  English  schools,  the  instruction  is  thorough  and 
comprehensive,  and  between  thirty  and  forty  boys  are  sent  from 
the  graduating  class  to  the  various  colleges  every  year.  It  holds 
a rank  today  among  the  best  of  our  secondary  schools. 

REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  WILLIAM  PENN  CHARTER  SCHOOL,  1875. 

There  was  a reorganization  of  the  school  on  a higher  grade 
under  the  head  mastership  of  Richard  M.  Jones  in  1875,  although 
the  real  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  school  was,  as  has  been 
Stated  above,  1689, 

COLLEGE  OF  INDUSTRY  AND  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS  RECOMMENDED, 

1697. 

The  tendency  of  Friends  toward  the  practical  in  their  edu- 
cation is  again  observed  in  the  action  of  the  “Morning  Meeting” 
pf  London,  which,  in  1697,  advised  at  monthly  and  quarterly  meet- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


49 


ings  that  “Friends  of  estate”  should  subscribe  to  the  founding 
of  a “College  of  Industry.”  It  also  recommended  that  the  sev- 
eral meetings  should  establish,  in  the  several  counties,  schools 
“for  instruction  in  French,  in  languages  and  sciences,  and  in  con- 
nection with  labor.”  It  also  advised  the  training  of  teachers,  and 
this  advice  was  given,  it  will  be  observed,  nearly  two  hundred 
years  ago.  By  continual  care  of  the  yearly  and  the  subordinate 
meetings,  schools  were  supplied  with  good  teachers;  so  that,  as  a 
rule,  Friends  were,  until  considerably  later  after  the  public  atten- 
tion was  drawn  to  the  proper  preparation  of  teachers,  better  edu- 
cated, as  a class,  than  the  average  of  the  community. 

CLERKENWELL  SCHOOL,  1702. 

In  1702  the  Quarterly  Meeting  of  London  opened  a school  at 
Clerkenwell.  This  was  the  first  of  the  public  endowed  schools  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  and  it  has  been  carried  on,  practically 
without  intermission,  now  for  191  years.  In  1823  it  was  removed 
to  Croydon,  and  in  1879  again  removed  to  Saffron  Walden,  and 
it  is  at  present  one  of  the  most  flourishing  public  schools  of 
Friends  in  England.  An  important  item  in  the  curriculum  of  this 
school  in  the  earlier  days,  as  well  as  of  others  which  followed  its 
example,  was  “ manual  labor,”  although,  in  the  language  of  a 
recent  writer  in  the  “ Friends  Quarterly  Examiner,”  of  London, 
“the  idea  of  combihing  labor  with  mental  instruction  in  our 
schools  is  now  one  of  past  generations.”  Manual  labor  was  the 
largest  part  of  the  occupation  of  the  students  in  the  earlier  history 
of  the  school,  so  that  it  received  the  name  of  the  Clerkenwell 
workhouse,  but  this  labor  was  gradually  diminished,  and  after 
the  removal  of  the  school  to  Croydon  it  was  practically  dis- 
continued. 

On  its  removal  to  Saffron  Walden  it  was  established  upon  sub- 
stantially the  same  basis  as  Ackworth,  in  the  very  year  that  the 
Ackworth  school  celebrated  its  centenary. 

At  this  point,  I fear  that  there  must  be  a wide  hiatus  in  my 
list  of  dates.  The  difficulty  of  the  task  which  I have  undertaken 
will  be  appreciated  on  considering  the  fact  that  so  few  reliable 
records  are  to  be  found.  We  know  from  tradition,  and  in  a general 
way,  that  the  cause  of  education,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  is 
largely  indebted  to  Friends;  but,  as  they  have  ever  been  more 
4 


50 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


interested  in  doing  than  in  talking  or  even  writing  of  what  they 
have  done,  we  cannot,  for  these  earlier  times,  name  so  fully  as 
we  would  desire  persons,  places  or  dates. 

ACKWQRTH  SCHOOL,  1 779. 

We  come  now  to  a very  important  date  in  the  history  of  edu- 
cation in  our  Society.  This  was  the  year  1779,  the  date  of  the 
foundation  in  England  of  the  Ackworth  school,  which  has  now 
during  more  than  a hundred  years  continued  to  occupy  the  place 
at  the  head  of  Friends’  schools  in  England,  unless  we  are  to  ex- 
cept a few  institutions  of  comparatively  recently  origin.  So  far 
as  the  existence  of  so  important  an  institution  can  be  said  to  be 
dependent  upon  the  influence  of  one  man,  Ackworth  may  surely 
claim  to  owe  its  existence  to  the  enlightened  energy  of  Dr.  John 
Fothergill.  Among  early  Friends  were  a number  of  leading 
spirits  who  had  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a collegiate  education. 
As  these  passed  away,  Friends  came  to  be  satisfied  with  the  edu- 
cation afforded  by  their  own  schools  which,  although  sufficient 
in  those  days  to  give  Friends  even  pre-eminence  among  those 
around  them,  in  a common  education  were,  however,  not  of  a suf- 
ficiently advanced  grade  for  the  best  preparation  of  those  intend- 
ing to  enter  upon  the. important  duties  of  teaching.  (I  should 
say,  in  passing,  that  this  is  doubtless  one  of  the  important  causes  of 
the  lack  of  dates  through  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
of  which  I have  complained.)  A great  dearth  of  properly  qual- 
ified teachers  for  Friends’  schools,  both  in  England  and  in  this 
country,  was  the  result.  The  consciousness  of  this  weakness  gave 
birth  to  the  Ackworth  schooL,  and  a few  years  later  to  Westtown 
and  other  boarding  schools  in  this  country.  Ackworth  was 
opened  Tenth  mo.  17th,  1779,  and  within  a year  it  had  256 
pupils,  and  in  the  following  year,  three  hundred.  It  has  been 
maintained  at  about  this  size  now  through  more  than  one  hundred 
years,  and  has  done  a great  work  for  general  education  among 
Friends  in  England. 

It  has  a property  now  valued  at  about  $1,000,000,  and  in  1879, 
when  its  first  centennial  was  celebrated,  it  had  received  nine  thou- 
sand fivehundred  pupils.  Although  the  education  received  by  these 
pupils  during  the  first  one  hundred  years  of  the  existence  of  the 
school  would  be  considered  meager  in  comparison  with  the  crowded 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


5 


curricula  of  these  later  days,  still,  in  the  language  used  at  the  Ack- 
worth  Centenary,  “it  was,  as  a school,  in  advance  of  other  middle 
class  schools,  both  in  education  and  training.”  The  young  people 
of  these  times,  who  feel  that  they  must  have  long  summer  vacations 
(even  in  other  than  centennial  years),  will  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  “Ackworth  had  pursued  its  operations  with  unbroken  con- 
tinuity for  sixty-seven  years,  when,  in  the  summer  of  1847,  the 
great  household  broke  up  for  the  first  vacation.”  Although  this 
vacation  was  an  experiment  the  results  were  so  satisfactory  that  it 
became  a permanent  institution.  Ackworth  was  liberally  sup- 
ported by  Friends  of  means,  thus  enabling  children  to  receive  an 
education  there  at  very  reasonable  rates;  but  the  more  modern 
method  of  allowing  a large  share  of  the  annual  deficiency  to  be 
made  up  by  the  liberal  managers  of  our  educational  institutions, 
seems  not  always  to  have  been  practiced  there,  for  we  are  told 
that  there  was,  at  least,  one  of  its  managers  “whose  methodical 
economy  led  him  to  omit  his  annual  subscription  on  the  years 
when  he  served  on  the  committee.”  Ackworth  is  now  under  the 
excellent  management  of  Frederic  Andrews,  superintendent,  and  is 
governed  by  a very  large  committee,  eight  of  whom  are  nomi- 
nated by  the  meeting  for  sufferings,  ancf  all  elected  by  the  general 
meeting  of  the  school — men  and  women  from  every  part  of  the 
country.  This  committee  is  constantly  mindful  of  every  point 
where  the  moral,  religious,  or  intellectual  culture  offers  an  oppor- 
tunity for  improvement,  and  are  ever  watchful  over  its  spiritual 
well  being,  and  its  prospective  influence  over  the  future  of  our 
religious  society.  In  the  opinion  of  competent  judges  among 
English  Friends,  it  is  now,  has  long  been,  and  still  promises  to  be, 
the  back-bone  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  England. 

NINE  PARTNERS  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  1 796. 

Nine  Partners  Boarding  School,  at  Washington,  Dutchess 
Co.,  N.  ¥.,  under  the  care  of  the  New  York  Yearly  Meeting,  was 
opened  Twelfth  mo.  20th,  1796.  It  had,  in  the  beginning,  a mod- 
erate endowment  of  $10,000,  and  for  many  years  it  numbered 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  of  both  sexes.  In  accordance 
with  the  ancient  practice,  the  school  was  kept  for  a long  time 
through  the  entire  year,  without  any  vacation.  Plainness  and  sim- 
plicity were  required,  and  the  object  aimed  at  was,  primarily,  a 


52 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


good  moral  character;  and,  secondarily,  the  training  of  the  intellect. 
At  first,  for  a number  of  years,  the  boys  and  girls  studied  and 
recited  separately;  but  under  some  of  the  later  teachers  they 
were  instructed  in  the  same  class,  which,  as  their  teachers  testi- 
fied, was  greatly  to  their  mutual  advantage.  After  a time  the 
school  became  less  popular  and  “suffered  in  numbers  from  the 
rivalry  of  the  superior  city  schools.”  Some  time  prior  to  1865  it 
was  removed  to  Union  Springs,  New  York,  where,  under  the  care 
of  the  New  York  Yearly  Meeting,  after  many  vicissitudes,  it  is  once 
more  a successful  and  useful  school,  and  now  numbers  125  stu- 
dents, of  both  sexes,  the  school  continuing,  as  in  the  beginning, 
co-educational.  Goold  Brown,  the  grammarian,  received  a part 
of  his  education  at  this  school;  and  Lucretia  Mott  was  at  one 
time  a pupil,  and  afterward  a teacher  in  the  school.  Few  who 
knew  her  have  not  heard  her  speak  with  satisfaction  of  her  early 
years  spent  at  Nine  Partners’  School. 

WESTTOWN  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  1799- 

It  was  during  the  year  1790,  that  a project  for  establishing  a 
boarding  school  on  a larger  scale  than  any  yet  attempted  by 
Friends,  was  started  in  this  country.  A pamphlet  published  by 
Owen  Biddle  in  this  year  set  forth  the  need  of  such  a school  for 
Friends’  children  in  America  as  that  which  had  been  estab- 
lished eleven  years  before  at  Ackworth,  in  Yorkshire,  England. 

In  this  pamphlet  attention  is  called  to  the  minutes  of  the  New 
England  Yearly  Meeting,  earnestly  directing  the  attention  of 
Friends  to  the  need  of  suitable  schools  for  their  children  as  early 
as  the  year  1690,  and  in  an  epistle  in  1780  they  had  placed  be- 
fore their  members  the  encouraging  example  of  the  then  new 
Ackworth  school,  it  having  been  opened  for  students  in  the  pre- 
vious year.  A detailed  plan  for  the  new  school  is  drawn  out  by 
Owen  Biddle  in  his  pamphlet,  and  this  was  largely  instrumental 
in  turning  the  attention  of  Friends  practically  to  this  subject. 
The  result  of  this  movement  was,  that  after  the  necessary  prelim- 
inaries intended  to  arouse  the  general  attention  of  Friends  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject,  an  estate  of  600  acres,  in  Chester  county,  Pa.» 
was  purchased  for  the  site  of  the  school,  and  nine  years  after  the 
publication  of  the  pamphlet  of  Owen  Biddle,  on  the  6th  of  Fifth 
mo.,  1799,  the  school  was  first  opened  to  students.  Both  sexes 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


53 


were  to  be  admitted  on  equal  terms,  but  they  were  to  be  kept 
almost  as  distinct  as  though  placed  in  different  institutions.  Al- 
though 133  applicants  presented  themselves  at  first,  with  the 
characteristic  caution  of  Friends,  only  twenty  of  each  sex  were  at 
first  admitted  as  an  experiment,  and  this  number  was  to  be  in- 
creased by  ten  of  each  sex  monthly,  if  it  was  found  to  be  advis- 
able. The  number  was  soon  increased,  and  before  the  close  of 
the  year  1799  there  had  been  admitted  155  students,  80  boys  and 
75  girls.  The  price  of  board  and  tuition  was  fixed  at  $64  per 
annum,  that  all  might  freely  partake  of  the  benefit  offered  by  the 
school.  The  course  of  study  was  liberal  for  those  times,  a third 
of  a century  before  the  opening  of  Haverford  school  for  higher 
education,  and  it  has  ever  occupied  an  honorable  place  among 
the  institutions  of  this  country  for  secondary  instruction.  From 
the  foundation  of  the  school  to  the  present  time  it  has  averaged 
nearly  one  hundred  of  each  sex,  the  whole  number  admitted  to 
date  being  1 1,324. 

Although  for  many  years  the  sexes  were  taught  in  separate 
classes,  mixed  classes  in  Latin  were  first  introduced  some  years 
ago,  and  the  advantages  of  the  method  became  so  obvious  that 
it  was  tried  in  other  classes,  and  now,  since  1890,  co-education  has 
been  fully  established,  and  practically  the  same  course  of  study 
is  pursued  by  both  sexes. 

Although  Westtown  has  never  aspired  to  be  a college,  there 
now  go  out  from  its  walls  annually  a number  of  young  persons 
whose  advanced  work  covers,  in  general  terms,  the  first  two  years 
of  an  average  college  course.  And  by  its  training  of  suitable 
teachers  for  Friends’  schools,  and  the  instruction  which  it  has 
given,  under  guarded  religious  care,  this  school  has  been  largely 
instrumental  in  promoting  the  interests  of  general  education 
among  the  members  of  our  religious  society. 

During  the  past  few  years  entirely  new  and  commodious 
buildings  have  been  erected,  and  the  courses  of  study  have  been 
gradually  remodeled  and  improved  to  adapt  them  to  the  times. 

SIDCOT  SCHOOL,  l8o8. 

Sidcot  school,  in  Somersetshire,  England,  was  established  in 
1808,  in  the  same  year  that  Joseph  Lancaster,  a Friend,  intro- 
duced into  the  schools  of  London  his  Lancasterian  or  monitorial 


54 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


systefn  of  instruction,  so  much  encouraged  and  aided  by  Friends 
both  throughout  Europe  and  in  this  country.  Sidcot  is  a school 
of  a grade  about  equal  to  that  of  Ackworth,  and  now  numbers 
1 15  pupils,  and  its  school  property  is  valued  at  $115,000. 

ELI  AND  SAMUEL  HILLES*  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  1809. 

The  brothers  Eli  and  Samuel  Hilles  established  in  Wilming- 
ton, Del.,  in  1809,  a boarding  school  for  girls,  which  was  largely 
attended  by  Friends,  and  those  of  other  religious  denominations. 
Its  course  of  study  was  well  advanced,  and  the  opportunities 
afforded  for  the  higher  education  of  women  were  quite  excep- 
tional for  those  times.  The  school  became  so  widely  known  for 
its  excellent  management,  and  the  ennobling  influence  which  it 
exerted  upon  the  manners  and  character  of  its  students,  as  well 
as  for  the  practical  and  useful  instruction  given,  that  parents 
sought  it  for  their  daughters  from  most  of  the  United  States  and 
the  West  Indies.  It  was  continued  until  1832,  when  its  principal, 
Samuel  Hilles  (his  brother  having  resigned  a few  years  before), 
accepted  a position  in  the  new  Haverford  school,  then  being 
organized. 

WIGTON  SCHOOL,  l8 1 5. 

Wigton  school,  in  Cumberland,  England,  was  established  in 
1815.  This  is  also  a school  of  about  the  same  grade  as  Ackworth, 
and  now  numbers  about  sixty  pupils. 

FRIENDS  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I.,  1819. 

I have  said  that  the  New  England  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends 
was  early  active  in  promoting  the  education  of  its  members,  and 
that  as  early  as  1690  they  had  issued  an  epistle  upon  this  subject. 

It  was  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution  that  this  meeting 
agitated  the  subject  of  a school  for  higher  education,  and  in 
1780  a subscription  was  taken  for  such  a school,  headed  by  Moses 
Brown,  for  the  sum  of  $575.  He  put  forth  an  earnest  pamphlet 
appeal  to  the  Society  in  1782,  thus  preceding  by  eight  years  the 
pamphlet  of  Owen  Biddle  on  the  establishment ' of  Westtown 
boarding  school.  In  1784  the  school  was  opened  in  a little 
upper  chamber  in  the  old  meeting  house,  in  Portsmouth,  R.  I.  It 
struggled  on  for  four  years,  and  was  then  dropped,  but  only  to 
be  reopened  under  better  auspices  in  1819,  after  forty-three  acres 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


55 


of  land  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  had  been  generously  donated  by 
Moses  Brown  for  a site,  and  Friends  of  means  had  come  forward 
with  liberal  subscriptions.  This  latter  date,  1819,  is  regarded  as 
the  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  school,  and  it  was  the  begin- 
ning of  what,  after  the  lapse  of  a little  more  than  half  a century, 
is  now  so  widely  and  favorably  known  among  Friends  through- 
out the  country  as  the  “ Friends  Boarding  School,”  of  Providence, 
R.  I.  In  the  language  of  its  present  principal,  Augustine  Jones, 
“this  school  has  sent  out  thousands  upon  thousands  of  students, 
to  influence  countless  thousands  who  never  saw  it.  Its  founder, 
Moses  Brown,  had  the  limitations  of  his  sect,  as  all  other  people 
were  more  circumscribed  then  than  now.  But  he  had  liberal  and 
broad  ideas  both  as  to  the  means  and  methods  of  education.  He 
approved  of  thorough  classical  culture.  He  wished  the  advan- 
tages of  the  school  to  extend  beyond  the  bounds  of  sect,  and  to 
be  useful  to  mankind.”  And  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  today, 
that  his  wishes  in  this  respect  have  been  fully  realized. 

FRIENDLY  REPRESENTATION  IN  BROWN  UNIVESITY. 

It  should  also  be  said,  in  this  connection,  that  Moses  Brown 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  Brown  University,  toward  which  he 
made  liberal  contributions,  and  it  was  largely  through  his  influ- 
ence that  the  clause  of  its  charter  was  secured  which  required 
that  various  denominations  be  represented  in  its  management, 
and  that  in  this  adjustment  a proper  proportion  of  the  trustees 
should  always  be  members  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends. 

FAIR  HILL  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  1819. 

As  early  as  the  year  1746  an  earnest  effort  made  in  the  Balti- 
more Yearly  Meeting  to  establish  schools  under  the  care  of  the 
monthly  meetings,  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  several 
schools.  In  1769  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a Yearly 
Meeting  boarding  school.  This  effort  was  continued  in  1777, 
1778  and  1799,  which  last  date  it  will  be  noted  is  that  of  the 
opening  of  Westtown  boarding  school  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Philadelphia.  Baltimore  Friends  continued  to  agitate  the  sub- 
ject of  a Yearly  Meeting  boarding  school  of  their  own,  and  some 
active  steps  were  taken  in  1815,  followed  by  subscriptions,  and  in 


56 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


1 8 16  about  $25,000  having  been  subscribed,  a tract  of  358  acres, 
near  Sandy  Spring  meeting  house,  in  Maryland,  was  secured  as  a 
site,  and  upon  this  necessary  buildings  for  sixty  to  eighty  pupils 
were  erected,  and  the  boys’  department  of  the  school,  called  “Fair 
Hill  Boarding  School,”  was  opened  early  in  1819,  and  the  girls’ 
department  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year.  The  school,  for 
some  reason,  seems  not  to  have  been  a successful  one,  and  it  was 
consequently  suspended  in  1826,  and  the  property  was  rented  at 
a nominal  sum  for  some  years.  In  1850  it  was  leased  for  a term 
of  years  to  Richard  L.  and  Mary  W.  Kirk,  who,  with  William 
Henry  Farquhar,  opened  a private  boarding  school  for  girls,  un- 
der the  original  name  of  “Fair  Hill.”  They  kept  a good  school, 
and  a few  girls,  named  by  the  yearly  meeting’s  committee,  were 
educated  there  each  year  free  of  charge.  The  school  was  closed 
on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  war,  and  the  property  sold  in 
1865  and  converted  into  a fund  to  aid  in  the  education  of  poor 
children  among  Friends;  and  it  is  at  present  used  to  aid  the 
schools  under  the  care  of  the  monthly  meetings  of  the  Baltimore 
Yearly  Meeting. 

ALEXANDRIA  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  1824. 

Among  the  schools  not  under  the  care  of  any  meeting,  but 
which  were  conducted  by  Friends  and  must  be  regarded  as 
Friends’ schools,  was  the  “Alexandria  Boarding  School,”  at  Alex- 
andria, Va.,  kept  by  Benjamin  Hallowed.  It  was  opened  Twelfth 
mo.  1st,  1824,  and  continued  thirty-four  years,  closing  in  1858. 
During  that  time  1,509  boys  and  young  men  were  in  attendance 
at  the  school,  some  of  them  remaining  several  years.  Among 
these  were  many  sons  of  slaveholders  from  our  southern  states, 
upon  whose  ardent  temperaments  the  mild  and  paternal  influence 
of  Benjamin  and  Margaret  E.  Hallowed  had  a most  beneficial 
effect.  The  school  was  an  excellent  one  in  ad  respects,  and  had 
a national  reputation,  especially  for  its  superior  instruction  in 
advanced  mathematics.  Many  of  its  students  afterward  engaged 
in  teaching,  and  there  were  others  who  distinguished  themselves 
in  quite  a different  field,  for  not  ad  the  benign  and  friendly 
influence  of  the  school  was  able  to  prevent  some  (arnong  whom 
were  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Gen.  Kirby  Smith)  from  engaging 
in  the  fratricidal  struggle  of  our  Civil  war. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


57 


CLERMONT  ACADEMY,  1828. 

About  this  time,  1828,  a Friends’  boarding  school,  called 
“Clermont  Boarding  Academy,”  was  opened  for  boys  and  young 
men  near  Frankford,  Pa.,  by  Samuel  L.  Griscom.  Although  not 
directly  under  the  care  of  a meeting,  it  was,  like  many  others  of 
its  kind,  strictly  a Friends’  school,  being  conducted  by  Friends 
upon  Friends’  principles,  although,  as  usual  in  this  country,  mem- 
bers of  all  denominations  were  freely  admitted.  It  was  a thorough 
school  in  its  day,  and  gave  excellent  instruction,  especially  in 
English,  mathematics  and  the  ancient  and  modern  languages. 
Good  courses  of  lectures  on  natural  philosophy  and  natural  his- 
tory were  also  given,  and  the  thorough  instruction  and  friendly 
training  there  received  have  been  a life-long  source  of  satisfaction 
to  many  Friends  still  living. 

TOTTENHAM  SCHOOL,  1 828. 

A school  was  established  at  Tottenham,  near  London,  in  1828, 
by  a syndicate  of  wealthy  Friends,  where  “the  sons  of  Friends 
would  receive  a complete  literary  education.”  The  price  was 
fixed  at  $500  a year,  and  a school  of  twenty-five  young  men  was 
successfully  carried  on  for  a number  of  years,  when  the  principal 
joined  the  Established  church  and  the  school  passed  out  of  the 
society  and  has  since  ceased  to  exist. 

BOOTHAM  SCHOOL  FOR  BOYS,  1828. 

Bootham  school  for  boys,  at  York,  England,  under  the  care 
of  Yorkshire  Quarterly  Meeting,  was  established  in  1828.  It  is 
an  excellent  school,  socially  and  intellectually,  and  prepares  for 
business  and  the  universities.  It  was  among  the  earliest  of  the 
schools  of  England  to  make  an  important  part  of  its  curriculum 
the  various  branches  of  natural  history.  John  Bright  obtained 
most  of  his  early  education  at  this  school. 

THE  MOUNT  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS,  I83O. 

The  Mount  School,  for  girls,  was  established  at  York  in  1830. 
It  is  under  the  same  care  as  the  Bootham  School,  for  boys,  also 
of  York,  and  like  that,  is  socially  and  intellectually  an  excellent 
school.  It  also  may  be  said  to  prepare  for  “business  and  the 
universities,”  as  university  education  in  England  is  now  gradu- 


58 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


ally  opening  to  women.  Statistics  as  to  the  actual  number  of 
students  of  this  school  availing  themselves  of  this  privilege  would 
be  of  interest,  but  no  such  statistics  are  in  my  possession.*  In 
connection  with  the  Mount  school  there  is  carried  on  an  excellent 
training  school,  or  “College  for  Teachers,”  which  has  now  for 
a number  of  years  been  doing  valuable  work  for  Friends’  schools 
in  England. 

RAWDON  SCHOOL,  1832. 

Rawdon  school,  in  Yorkshire,  England,  was  opened  in  1832, 
for  the  poorer  classes  of  descendants  of  Friends,  not  members, 
and  has  been  maintained  by  contributions  at  a very  low  rate  of 
tuition. 

In  literary  standing  it  does  not  claim  to  compare  with  Ack- 
worth,  but  it  has  done  a great  service  for  general  education 
among  the  classes  for  whom  it  was  especially  designed. 

friends’  select  schools,  1832. 

A group  of  well  organized  and  efficient  schools,  called 
“ Friends’  Select  Schools,”  under  care  of  the  three  monthly  meet- 
ings of  Philadelphia,  which  meet  at  Fourth  and  Arch  streets,  Sixth 
and  Noble  and  in  Twelfth  streets,  was  first  established  in  1832. 
These  schools  are  an  offshoot  from  the  original  “Friends  Public 
School,”  founded  in  1689,  and  now  called  the  William  Penn  Charter 
School.  Their  course  of  study  includes  a primary,  secondary,  in- 
termediate, and  high  school  course,  which  courses  cover  a period 
of  twelve  years,  students  being  admitted  to  the  primary  course  at 
five  years  of  age.  The  completion  of  the  entire  course  gives  a 
liberal  high  school  education,  or  a thorough  preparation  for  col- 
lege. The  diploma  of  the  young  men  graduates  of  the  school 
admits  them  to  Haverford  College  without  examination.  There 
have  been  one  hundred  and  fifty  graduates  since  the  schools  were 
established,  and  the  number  of  students  the  past  year  has  been 
265,  of  both  sexes,  under  the  care  and  instruction  of  twenty-three 
teachers  and  a superintendent.  Both  sexes  have  equal  educa- 

*In  this  connection  the  following  extract  from  a letter  recently  received  from  Henry 
Thompson,  of  England,  will  be  found  of  interest:  “A  movement  is  now  actively  in  operation, 
the  object  of  which  is  to  obtain  the  establishment,  on  Friends’  lines,  of  some  institution  which 
shall  offer  to  the  young  women  of  our  society  an  education  parallel  with  that  obtained  at 
Girton  and  Newnham.  The  demand  among  the  more  leisured  young  women  who  have  success- 
fully passed  through  schools  like  the  Mount  school  at  York,  cannot  long  be  delayed  if  they  are 
to  be  withheld  from  the  schools  at  Cambridge,  now  so  much  esteemed  for  their  intellectual 
culture,  though  in  some  respects  so  little  likely  to  encourage  a young  Friends’  attachment  to 
her  own  church. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


59 


tional  opportunities,  and  now  recite  together  in  most  of  the 
classes.  A department  of  manual  training  has  recently  been 
added  to  the  curriculum  with  great  advantage  to  the  school. 

There  is  also  connected  with  the  school  a finely  equipped 
gymnasium,  and  the  students  have  access  to  a library  of  several 
thousand  volumes.  About  one-half  of  the  students  are  Friends, 
but  all  regularly  attend  midweek  meeting  with  their  teachers, 
who  are  usually  all,  or  nearly  all,  members  of  the  Religious  Soci- 
ety of  Friends.  In  the  language  of  the  last  circular,  “The  orig- 
inal purpose  of  these  schools  was  to  afford  to  our  youth  a liberal 
as  well  as  a guarded  education,  under  conditions  that  will  develop 
Christian  character  with  proper  home  influences.’/ 

The  experience  of  these  excellent  schools  for  the  past  sixty- 
one  years  is  sufficient  evidence  that  this  original  purpose  of  the 
founders  has  been  happily  realized. 

HAVERFORD  SCHOOL,  1 833,  AND  COLLEGE,  1856. 

About  thirty  years  after  the  opening  of  the  Westtown  Board- 
ing School,  the  subject  of  a more  advanced  education  among 
Friends  began  to  be  earnestly  discussed.  The  feel  ing  which  then 
prevailed  is  well  expressed  in  these  words  from  an  article  signed 
“Ascham,”  in  the  columns  of  “ The  Friend,”  of  Philadelphia, 
which  appeared  in  the  spring  of  1830.  “I  do  not  hesitate  to  ex- 
press my  conviction  that  when  the  results  of  the  plans  of  instruc- 
tion which  now  prevail  among  Friends  are  compared  with  the 
progress  of  society,  the  achievements  of  science,  and  the  in- 
creased influence  of  letters,  we  shall  be  found  to  have  made  no 
advance  in  anywise  commensurate  with  the  advantages  we  have 
enjoyed,  or  with  the  responsibility  which  our  standing  in  the  com- 
munity imposes  upon  us.”  For  the  three  following  years  the 
attention  of  the  Yearly  Meetings  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York 
was  directed  toward  “the  establishment  of  a seminary  for  teach- 
ing Friends’  children  the  higher  branches  of  learning.”  To  this 
end  the  sum  of  about  $60,000  was  secured  by  subscription,  a 
farm  of  nearly  two  hundred  acres  in  Delaware  county,  Pa.,  was 
secured  for  a site,  the  necessary  buildings  were  constructed, 
and  “Haverford  School”  was  opened  for  students  on  the  28th 
of  Tenth  mo.,  1833.  It  suffered  the  usual  difficulties  and  dis- 
couragements apparently  inseparable  from  new  enterprises,  but 


6o 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


by  wise  direction,  and  the  liberality  of  its  managers,  it  sur- 
vived them  all.  It  secured  a competent  corps  of  educated  men 
as  instructors,  and  twenty-three  years  later,  in  1856,  it  was  regu- 
larly chartered  as  a college,  becoming  the  first  institution  of 
Friends  which  claimed  this  rank  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
It  adopted  liberal  courses  of  study,  both  in  letters  and  in  science, 
for  the  completion  of  which  it  gave  the  regular  college  degrees, 
and  it  was  managed  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of 
the  Religious  Society  of  Friends.  It  has  now,  for  nearly  forty 
years,  maintained  an  honorable  place  at  the  head  of  Friends’ 
colleges  in  this  country,  and  its  course  of  study  compares  favor- 
ably with  that  of  other  colleges  not  under  the  care  of  Friends. 
Its  graduates  are  admitted  regularly  on  their  diplomas  to  the 
senior  class  of  Harvard,  or  at  their  option  to  the  graduate  depart- 
ment in  full  standing.* 

ERA  OF  THE  BOARDING  SCHOOL. 

Westtown  having  been  opened  in  1799,  and  Haverford  College 
in  1856,  followed  soon  after  by  other  Friends’  colleges,  the  first 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  may  be  called  the  era  of  boarding 
schools  among  Friends,  while  the  last  half  is  characterized  by  the 
development  of  the  college  idea.  But  this  is  true  of  this  country 
only,  for  English  Friends  are  still  passing  through  the  era  of  the 
boarding  school,  although  they  are  gradually  preparing  the  way 
for  the  development  of  the  college  idea  among  them,  by  the 
introduction  into  their  system  of  such  an  institution  as  Dalton 
Hall,  and  by  the  movement  now  on  foot  toward  furnishing  for 
young  women  Friends,  facilities  like  those  offered  to  women  at 
Girton  and  Newnham. 

PENKETH  SCHOOL,  1 834. 

A school  for  the  poorer  classes  of  the  descendants  of  Friends, 
like  the  Rawdon  School,  was  opened  in  1834  at  Penketh,  near 
Warrington.  It  differed  from  Rawdon  in  admitting  also  those 
who  are  members,  and,  at  first,  in  adopting  the  plan  of  intermix- 
ing manual  labor  with  literary  instruction.  It  takes  about  the 
same  rank  as  the  Rawdon  school. 

* It  should  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  that  Jacob  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  a few 
years  since,  left  an  estate  of  about  half  a million  dollars  which,  at  the  death  of  his  widow,  is 
to  revert  to  Haverford  college  without  conditions. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


6l 


BROOKFIELD  SCHOOL,  1 834. 

About  the  same  time  as  the  opening  of  Penketh  School,  1834, 
a similar  school  was  opened  at  Brookfield,  in  the  county  of 
Antrim,  Ireland.  It  soon  admitted  both  members  and  non-mem- 
bers, like  the  other  schools  of  its  grade  in  England,  and  it  is  the 
only  school  at  which  the  industrial  or  agricultural  training  is  still 
given.  It  now  accommodates  about  two  hundred  and  thirty 
children. 

PROPERTY  OF  IRISH  FRIENDS’  SCHOOLS. 

The  three  other  principal  Friends’  Schools  in  Ireland  are  those 
of  Lisburn,  Waterford  and  Mount  Mellick.  The  property  in- 
vested in  these  four  schools  is  estimated  at  about  $200,000. 

NEW  GARDEN  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  1 837. 

Four  years  after  the  opening  of  “ Haverford  School,”  in  1837, 
the  most  important  literary  institution  among  Friends  in  North 
Carolina  was  opened  at  New  Garden,  Guilford  county,  under  the 
name  of  “The  New  Garden  Boarding  School.”  In  the  language 
of  L.  Lyndon  Hobbs,  the  present  president  of  Guilford  College, 
“ This  institution  had  its  origin  in  a deep  religious  concern  for  the 
education  of  the  members  of  the  North  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting, 
and  for  the  promotion  of  the  Society  of  Friends.”  The  General 
Assembly  of  the  State  had  granted  it  an  act  of  incorporation  in 
1833,  and  on  the  1st  of  Eighth  mo.,  1837,  the  school  was  opened 
with  fifty  students,  twenty-five  boys  and  twenty-five  girls.  Among 
the  various  difficulties  with  which  this  school  has  had  to  contend, 
was  the  prejudice  existing  against  Friends  in  the  South,  especially 
during  those  years  which  immediately  preceded  our  Civil  war, 
on  account  of  their  anti-slavery  sentiments.  For  the  follow- 
ing interesting  statement  I am  indebted  to  Mary  Mendenhall 
Hobbs,  the  wife  of  the  present  president  of  Guilford  College: 
“ Friends  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  and  despised  by  the 
party  in  power.  As  a consequence  many  of  the  strongest  and 
most  thrifty  left  the  state  to  find  homes  on  the  fertile  free  soil  of 
the  west.  As  it  became  evident  that  war  was  inevitable,  and 
would  come,  many  more  fled,  leaving  land  and  property  unsold. 
At  this  time  Dr.  Nereus  Mendenhall,  the  principal  of  New  Garden 
Boarding  School,  had  all  of  his  goods  packed,  and  at  the  railroad 


62 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


station,  the  family  ready  to  follow  in  a day,  when  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came  to  him,  distinctly  bidding:  him  remain  here  and  stand 
by  the  school,  come  what  would.  The  prospects  in  the  west  were 
flattering  from  a worldly  standpoint,  but  true  to  his  convictions  of 
duty  he  remained,  and,  with  Jonathan  E.  Cox,  kept  the  school 
open  through  all  the  war,  thus  affording  a shelter  for  many  young 
men  during  those  perilous  times,  and  being  the  means,  in  the 
Divine  hand,  of  assisting  many  who  were  conscripted  to  escape 
through  the  lines.”  I may  add  that  it  is  said  that  this  is  the  only 
school  in  the  South  which  was  kept  open  entirely  through  the 
war,  and  never  lost  a class.  It  is  surely  a worthy  record  for  the 
Friends  of  North  Carolina. 

GUILFORD  COLLEGE,  1 888. 

The  New  Garden  School,  like  Earlham,  was  one  of  the  pio- 
neer schools  in  the  country  in  the  co-education  of  the  sexes 
(really  preceding  Earlham  by  ten  years),  and  notwithstanding 
the  opposition  in  North  Carolina  to  this  method  of  education,  it 
has  now  successfully  practiced  it  for  nearly  sixty  years.  In  its 
early  history  the  school  passed  through  many  serious  financial 
difficulties,  but  it  was  aided  by  the  contributions  of  English 
Friends,  and  largely  by  the  liberality  of  Friends  of  Baltimore 
and  Philadelphia.  It  has  done  a very  important  work  for  educa- 
tion among  the  Friends  of  North  Carolina  for  the  past  half  century, 
and  five  years  ago,  in  1888,  it  was  regularly  chartered  under  the 
name  of  Guilford  College,  and  its  standing  now  enables  its  grad- 
uates to  enter  Haverford,  or  Swarthmore  in  the  senior  class. 

SHARON  FEMALE  SEMINARY,  1 838. 

One  of  the  institutions  of  learning  among  Friends  which 
belong  to  “ the  Era  of  the  Boarding  School,”  called  “Sharon  Fe- 
male Seminary,”  was  opened  near  Darby,  Delaware  county,  Pa.,  in 
1838,  by  John  and  Rachel  T.  Jackson.  These  PTiends  were 
among  the  earliest  to  claim  for  young  women  educational  facil- 
ities equal  to  those  of  young  men.  In  their  own  language  they 
felt  that  “the  defective  standard  of  education  for  girls  has,  in  a 
great  measure,  shut  out  from  them  the  light  of  science,  and  pre- 
vented them  from  entering  the  portals  of  this  temple,  not  made 
with  hands,  to  explore  its  vast  dimensions,  and  to  contemplate 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


63 


the  beautiful  symmetry  and  perfection  of  its  parts.”  John  Jack- 
son’s school  became  distinguished  for  its  excellent  courses  of 
popular  lectures  on  philosophy,  chemistry,  geology  and  as- 
tronomy, which  were  freely  open  to  all.  “When  he  imported 
his  large  equatorial  telescope  from  Munich,  he  was  the  only  indi- 
vidual in  the  United  States  who  had  so  large  and  expensive  a 
refracting  telescope.”  (Jas.  Andrews’  Memoir  of  John  Jack- 
son.) 

This  excellent  school  was  not  under  the  care  of  any  meeting,  • 
but  was  strictly  a Friends’  school,  while  with  a liberality  common 
among  Friends,  and  now  almost  universal,  members  of  all  relig- 
ious denominations  shared  its  privileges.  About  six  hundred 
young  women,  mostly  from  the  Middle  States  and  Maryland, 
were  students  at  the  school  from  the  time  of  its  opening  until  it 
was  closed  in  1856,  after  the  death  of  John  Jackson.  The  influ- 
ence of  this  school  was  widely  felt  in  these  and  adjacent  states, 
and  this  influence  was,  doubtless,  one  of  the  instrumentalities 
which  resulted,  thirteen  years  later,  in  the  founding  of  Swarth- 
more  College,  offering  identical  opportunities  to  both  sexes,  and 
giving  to  women  an  equal  share  with  men  in  its  management. 

SIBFORD  SCHOOL,  I84I. 

Sibford  school,  in  Oxfordshire,  England,  was  opened  in  1841 
for  poor  children,  and  is  intellectually  and  socially  of  the  same 
class  as  Rawdon. 

AYTON  SCHOOL,  1 84 1. 

In  the  same  year  as  the  opening  of  the  Sibford  school,  1841, 
the  North  of  England  Agricultural  School  was  opened  in  York- 
shire. It  is  of  the  same  class  as  Rawdon  and  is  known  as  the 
Ayton  school. 

FRIENDS  CENTRAL  SCHOOL,  1 845. 

One  of  the  largest  and  most  flourishing  of  Friends’  schools  at 
the  present  time  is  “Friends  Central  School,”  of  Philadelphia.  It 
was  first  opened  forstudents  in  the  autumn  of  1845,  under  the 
joint  care  of  three  monthly  meetings  of  Philadelphia.  From  the 
beginning  it  has  offered  equal  facilities  for  instruction  to  both 
sexes,  although  they  have  always  been  taught  separately,  a boys’ 
and  a girls’  department  having  always  been  maintained.  Its 
course  of  study  has  steadily  advanced  with  the  times,  and  it  can 


64 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


now  claim  to  rank  among  the  best  of  the  schools  of  this  country, 
denominational  or  otherwise,  for  secondary  instruction.  A num- 
ber of  its  graduates  have  been  admitted  to  the  sophomore  class  of 
Swarthmore  College,  and  some  have  maintained  an  excellent 
standing  at  Bryn  Mawr.  No  denominational  test  is  required  for 
the  admission  of  students,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  instructors 
are  members  of  our  religious  society.  The  school  now  numbers 
six  hundred  students,  and  these  regularly  attend  midweek  meeting 
with  their  teachers. 

FRIENDS  BOARDING  SCHOOL,  RICHMOND,  IND.,  1847,  AND  EARLHAM 

COLLEGE,  1859. 

It  was  in  the  year  1829,  a quarter  of  a century  before  the  in- 
auguration of  the  free  public  schools  of  Indiana,  that  the  Indiana 
Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends  took  the  first  steps  toward  the  gen- 
eral education  of  its  members.  Thus  in  this  state,  as  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  elsewhere,  in  tracing  the  history  of  education,  we  find 
early  initiatory  steps  taken  by  our  religious  society.  Nine  flour- 
ishing academies  in  Indiana,  Ohio  and  Southern  Michigan,  with 
courses  of  study  preparatory  to  Earlham  College,  are  the  result 
of  this  early  movement  for  education  among  the  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  In  1832  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  Indiana  be- 
gan to  take  steps  for  establishing  a boarding  school  of  high  grade, 
to  be  the  head  of  their  system  of  denominational  schools  This 
school,  called  “Friends  Boarding  School,”  was  established  by  the 
united  efforts  of  Friends,  both  in  America  and  Great  Britain,  and 
in  1847  was  first  °Pened  to  students  in  Richmond,  Ind.  It 
was  maintained  as  a school  of  exceptionally  high  standard  for 
twelve  years,  when,  in  1859,  it  received  a charter  from  the  state 
under  the  name  of  Earlham  College.  During  the  forty-six  years 
of  the  existence  of  Earlham  as  a school  and  college,  more  than 
six  thousand  students  have  been  in  attendance  upon  its  classes,  and 
more  than  twenty  per  cent  of  this  entire  number  have  been  engaged 
as  teachers  in  public  and  private  schools  and  colleges.  It  has  thus 
exercised  a wide  and  profound  influence,  not  only  upon  the  Relig- 
ious Society  of  Friends,  but  also  upon  the  community  at  large, 
especially  at  home  and  in  the  adjacent  states. 

It  will  be  observed  that  its  organization  as  a college,  in  1859, 
was  three  years  after  the  organization  of  Haverford  College,  and 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


65 


ft 


that  it  thus  stands  second  on  the  list  of  Friends’  colleges  in  this 
country.  Unlike  Haverford,  which  is  open  only  to  young  men, 
Earlham  has  from  its  first  existence  as  a boarding  school  admitted 
boys  and  girls,  young  men  and  women,  on  equal  terms,  and 
taught  them  together  in  the  classes,  and  can  thus  claim  to  be  one 
of  the  pioneers  in  the  work  of  co-education. 

FLOUNDERS  INSTITUTE,  1 848. 

Flounders  Institute  (now  generally  known  as  Flounders  Col- 
lege), “designed  as  a training  college  for  young  men  teachers,” 
was  established  on  a part  of  the  Ackworth  estate  in  England  in 
1845,  under  the  bequest  of  Benjamin  Flounders,  of  Yarm,  who  en- 
dowed it  with  tli£  sum  of  $200,000.  It  has  prepared  many  teach- 
ers for  their  work,  and  been  a most  valuable  supplement  to,  and 
co-worker  with,  the  Ackworth  school  for  nearly  half  a century. 
(Ackworth  [Centenary,  p.  158.)  The  original  endowment  has 
been  increased  by  liberal  Friends  in  more  recent  times,  until  it 
now  amounts  to  over  $250,000.  The  ancient  and  modern  lan- 
guages and  mathematics  receive  especial  attention  in  this  school; 
but  as  yet  little  or  no  provision  has  been  made  for  the  study  of 
the  sciences. 

The  demand  for  the  excellent  training  for  the  teachers’  profes- 
sion given  at  Flounders  has  fallen  off  of  late  years.  The  reason 
is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  Friends,  while  acknowledging  the 
great  value  of  such  training,  have  not  generally  arrived  at  a per- 
ception of  the  fact  that  larger  culture  and  abler  service  will  event- 
ually be  better  rewarded.  Teachers’  salaries  continue  low,  and 
there  is  recently  a very  distinct  evidence  of  a growing  disinclin- 
ation on  the  part  of  young  men  of  ability  to  enter  upon  a profes- 
sion so  slenderly  remunerated.  This  difficulty  is  to  day  even 
greater  in  England  than  in  our  own  country. 

DARBY  FRIENDS  SCHOOL,  1 854. 

In  the  year  1854  the  late  John  Hunt  Bunting  donated  to  the 
Monthly  Meeting  of  Darby,  Delaware  county,  Pa.,  the  sum  of  $10,- 
000,  on  condition  that  their  school  should  be  made  free  to  the 
members,  and  children  of  members,  belonging  to  that  meeting. 
This  arrangement  took  effect  at  the  opening  of  the  following 
year.  It  appears  to  have  been  the  first  Friends’  school  in  this 
5 


66 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


country  thus  free  to  the  children  of  Friends.  This  excellent  ex- 
ample for  Friends  of  means  seems  well  worthy  a place  in  this  his- 
torical record. 

FRIENDS  SEMINARY,  1 86 1 . 

“Friends  Seminary,”  of  New  York,  which  succeeded  other 
Friends’  Schools,  under  the  care  of  the  monthly  meeting,  was 
opened  Ninth  mo.  9th,  1861.  Before  the  end  of  the  following 
year  the  school  numbered  two  hundred  pupils,  about  an  equal 
number  of  each  sex.  From  the  beginning  this  school,  unlike 
those  which  preceded  it  in  this  respect,  has  been  entirely  co- 
educational. The  greatest  number  of  students  in  attendance 
during  any  one  year  has  been  two  hundred  and  forty,  and  the 
average  number  has  been  somewhat  below  two* hundred.  There 
has  been  a diminution  in  the  attendance  since  the  opening  of 
“Friends  School”  in  Brooklyn,  in  1867.  This  Brooklyn  school 
numbered  about  ninety  last  year.  Friends  Seminary  prepares 
students  for  Swarthmore  College,  where  they  are  admitted  to 
the  freshman  class  on  the  testimonial  of  the  principal.  The 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  schools  are  aided  by  an  endowment 
fund  of  about  $100,000.  In  these  schools  especial  care  is  taken 
to  induce  the  attendance  of  the  children  of  Friends.  There 
is  no  charge  for  the  tuition  of  such  children,  if  they  are  members 
of  the  meetings  having  the  schools  in  charge.  The  New  York 
Yearly  Meeting  now  appropriates  annually  about  $500  for  educa- 
tional purposes. 

FRIENDS  ELEMENTARY  AND  HIGH  SCHOOL,  1864. 

In  1864  an  important  school  for  secondary  instruction  among 
Friends  was  opened  under  the  care  of  the  Baltimore  Monthly 
Meeting,  and  called  “Friends  Elementary  and  High  School.”  Like 
“Friends  Central  School,”  in  Philadelphia,  opened  twenty  years 
before,  it  was  to  be,  what  was  sometimes  called  among  Friends, 
“A  Finishing  School.”  It  will  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that 
what  has  been  called  “the  Era  of  the  Boarding  School”  belongs 
to  the  first  half  of  this  century,  while  the  last  half  has  been 
characterized  by  the  development  of  the  college  idea;  hence,  the 
term  “finishing  school”  soon  began  to  be  inappropriate  for  all 
institutions  for  secondary  instruction.  This  school  soon  num- 
bered three  hundred  students,  of  both  sexes,  taught  together  in  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


67 


classes,  and  afforded  equal  educational  facilities  in  all  respects.  At 
the  end  of  twenty-four  years  of  successful  experience,  a change  in 
the  character  of  the  neighborhood  of  the  meeting  house  where 
the  school  had  been  held,  having  been  made,  it  seemed  best  to 
remove  it  to  a more  healthful  and  favorable  location  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  city,  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  school  was 
released,  and  the  whole  responsibility  of  it  thenceforth  devolved 
upon  Eli  M.  Lamb,  so  long  its  successful  principal.  The  school 
is  continued  under  the  same  name,  and  ranks  among  the  best  of 
our  schools  fitting  students  for  college  or  for  the  duties  of  active 
life.  It  was  one  of  the  first  schools  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
the  Johns  Hopkins  University  in  fitting  students  for  its  under- 
graduate classes,  to  which  it  has  continued  to  furnish  well  pre- 
pared students  every  year.  The  school  is  conducted  upon  the 
same  principles  as  when  under  the  charge  of  a committee,  and, 
like  various  other  educational  institutions  thus  governed,  it  is 
essentially  a Friends’  school. 

During  the  past  four  years,  since  the  Friends’  Elementary  and 
High  School  has  ceased  to  be  under  the  care  of  a committee  of 
the  Monthly  Meeting,  a Monthly  Meeting  School  has  been  estab- 
lished with  kindergarten,  primary  and  intermediate  departments. 
It  has  ninety  pupils,  instructed  by  seven  teachers,  and  an  abate- 
ment of  one-half  the  price  of  tuition  is  made  to  children  of  Friends, 
or  those  who  have  one  parent  a member.  Departments  of  a 
higher  grade  are  to  be  added  when  accommodations  can  be 
provided. 

SWARTHMORE  COLLEGE,  1 869. 

A concern  for  the  higher  education  of  their  children,  under 
guarded  religious  care,  originating  with  some  members  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting  of  Baltimore,  and  soon  extending  to  those  of 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  began  to  be  widely  felt  among 
Friends  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  present  century.  Addresses 
were  issued  to  Friends,  and  many  meetings  were  held,  at  which 
plans  of  organization  were  presented  and  discussed.  As  the 
movement  which  originated  Westtown  Boarding  School,  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  contemplated  a school  upon  a larger 
scale  than  any  previously  established  by  Friends,  so.  this  move- 
ment, accepting  the  situation  imposed  by  the  growth  of  the  col- 
lege idea  (which  has  characterized  this  second  half  of  the  century), 


68 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


contemplated  the  establishment  of  a college  in  which  “an  educa- 
tion could  be  received  equal  to  that  of  the  best  colleges  in  the 
land.”  Nor  was  it  to  be  under  the  control  of  any  of  the  three 
yearly  meetings  within  whose  limits  the  movement  was  at  first 
confined,  nor  yet  of  the  three  meetings  conjointly;  but  it  was 
proposed  to  make  it  national  in  its  character,  although  its  charter 
was  so  drawn  that  it  should  always  be  controlled  and  directed  by 
members  of  our  Religious  Society.  And  in  its  management,  from 
the  beginning,  women  were  included  in  an  equal  number  with 
men,  having  the  same  voice  with  them,  and  the  institution  was  to 
be  strictly  co-educational,  offering  equal  facilities  to  both  sexes, 
who  were  to  be  taught  together  in  the  classes. 

The  necessary  funds  were  raised  by  subscription,  and  although 
in  this  paper  persons  cannot  generally  be  named,  it  should  be 
stated  here  that  the  largest  subscriber  was  the  late  Samuel  Willets, 
of  New  York,  who  has,  first  and  last,  given  more  than  a quarter 
of  a million  dollars  toward  the  foundation  of  the  college;  and  it 
should  also  be  said  that  but  for  the  indefatigable  and  well  directed 
efforts  of  the  late  Edward  Parrish,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  made 
the  first  President  of  the  College,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  the  great 
work  now  undertaken  by  Friends  would  so  soon  have  been 
crowned  with  success. 

About  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  were  secured  in 
Delaware  county,  Pa.,  for  a site,  a principal  college  building 
erected  at  an  expense  of  $225,000,  and  Swarthmore  College,  thus 
named  after  the  home  of  George  and  Margaret  Fox,  in  Eng- 
land, was  opened  in  the  autumn  of  1869  with  about  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  students  of  both  sexes.  This  number,  however, 
reached  188  before  the  close  of  the  year.  Of  these,  twenty-six 
were  members  of  the  Freshman  Class,  all  the  rest  belonging  to 
the  Preparatory  School.  Each  year  a class  was  added  to  the 
college  proper,  until  there  was  the  usual  number  of  college 
classes,  and  after  a time  the  preparatory  school  was  gradual- 
ly diminished,  by  raising  the  standard  of  admission;  and  now, 
at  the  end  of  a little  more  than  two  decades,  the  college  proper 
only  remains,  with  five  classes,  and  its  standard  of  scholarship 
is  such  that  it  compares  favorably  with  many  of  our  older  col- 
leges, and  its  graduates,  like  those  of  Haverford,  are  admitted 
on  their  diplomas  to  the  Senior  Class  of  Harvard.  Since  the 


kELIGiOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


69 


organization  of  the  college  a number  of  good  schools  under  the 
care  of  Friends  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
ware and  Maryland  have  so  arranged  their  courses  of  study  as  to 
prepare  students  for  the  Freshman  class,  and  students  from  these 
schools  are  admitted  on  the  certificate  of  the  principals  without 
examination. 

The  main  building  of  the  college  was  totally  destroyed  by 
fire  in  1881,  and  by  the  energy  of  Friends  was  restored  in  one 
year,  by  subscription,  without  incurring  any  debt.  The  value  of 
the  land,  buildings,  apparatus,  etc.,  is  now  estimated  at  more  than 
half  a million  dollars,  and  it  has  a permanent  endowment  fund  of 
nearly  the  same  amount. 

CHAPPAQUA  MOUNTAIN  INSTITUTE,  I87O. 

In  the  year  following  the  opening  of  Swarthmore  College, 
1870,  a Friends’  boarding  school  was  opened  at  Chappaqua,  New 
York,  and  named  the  ‘‘Chappaqua  Mountain  Institute.”  It  was 
erected  at  a first  cost  of  $40,000,  since  increased  to  $72,000  after 
its  destruction  by  fire,  which  sums,  in  both  cases,  were  raised  by 
subscription,  chiefly  among  Friends  within  the  limits  of  the  New 
York  Yearly  Meeting.  Friends  of  the  Purchase  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing were  the  principal  subscribers,  and  the  school  is  under  the  care 
of  this  meeting.  It  was  opened  in  Eleventh  mo.,  1870,  with 
about  fifty  pupils  of  both  sexes,  and  for  more  than  twenty  years 
it  has  had  an  average  attendance  of  about  seventy-five  pupils,  and 
has  been  doing  a good  work  for  education  among  Friends  and 
others,  especially  those  in  limited  circumstances,  and  occupies 
today  an  honorable  place  among  our  schools  for  secondary  in- 
struction. 

WILMINGTON  COLLEGE,  1 87 1 . 

Wilmington  College,  in  Wilmington,  Ohio,  was  first  opened 
under  care  of  Friends  in  1871.  The  college  had  originally  been 
incorporated  under  the  care  of  the  “Disciples”  or  “Christian 
Church.”  It  was  re-incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  state  in 
1874,  at  the  opening  of  the  Presidency  of  Benjamin  Trueblood, 
who  personally  bore  the  financial  responsibility  of  the  college 
for  the  first  four  years,  and  whose  ability  and  personal  sacrifice 
in  the  management  did  much  in  those  earlier  years  to  place  it 
upon  a secure  foundation.  It  graduated  its  first  class  of  four 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  EOR  ERIENDS. 

students  in  1875.  It  has  continued  to  graduate  small  classes  each 
year,  and  its  whole  number  of  students  at  present,  including  pre- 
paratory classes,  is  140.  It  confers  two  degrees,  the  classical 
(A.  B.)  and  the  scientific  (B.  S.).  The  Master’s  degree  in  each 
of  these  courses  is  conferred  only  after  a satisfactory  thesis,  or 
examination  in  some  line  of  work  approved  by  the  faculty. 
During  the  past  year  the  faculty  has  consisted  of  eleven  professors 
and  instructors,  of  whom  six  are  college  graduates.  Several  of 
these  are  active  in  mission  and  institute  work  in  Ohio  and  adja- 
cent states. 

PENN  COLLEGE,  1873. 

Prior  to  1866  there  existed  in  Iowa,  for  a few  years,  an  or- 
ganization known  as  “The  Spring  Creek  Union  College  Associ- 
ation of  Friends.”  In  1866  the  name  was  changed  to  “The  Iowa 
Union  College  Association  of  Friends,”  and  the  Yearly  Meeting 
of  Iowa  was  accorded  the  privilege  of  appointing  a part  of  the 
directors. 

On  the  9th  of  the  Ninth  mo.,  1873,  the  name  was  changed 
to  Penn  College,  and  the  college  was  opened  to  students  in  that 
year.  Both  sexes  have  been  admitted  from  the  beginning,  and 
are  taught  together  in  the  classes.  The  members  of  the  faculty 
are  mostly  members  of  our  religious  society.  As  in  Friends’  col- 
leges generally,  students  are  expected  to  attend  religious  services, 
and  are  encouraged  to  attend  those  of  our  own  religious  denom- 
inations. 

I find  these  words  in  their  recent  announcement: 

“The  curriculum  is  not  quite  as  advanced,  in  every  respect, 
as  those  of  eastern  colleges,  but  it  is  practically  about  their 
equal.”  It  has  a permanent  endowment  fund  of  $30,000. 

DALTON  HALL,  1 876. 

An  institution  scarcely  educational  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but 
of  great  importance  to  the  interest  of  higher  education  among 
Friends  in  England,  was  established  in  Manchester  by  Friends  of 
the  Manchester  Preparative  Meeting  in  1876.  This  was  a “Hall  of 
Residence,”  subsequently  enlarged  and  called  “Dalton  Hall,” 
where  young  men  in  attendance  upon  Owens  College,  a part  of 
Victoria  University,  should  have  all  the  benefits  of  a home  and 
the  assistance  of  competent  tutors,  and  feel  that  they  were  under 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


71 


the  care  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends.  Owens  College  had 
been  selected  as  suitable  for  Friends  (they  having  no  college  in 
England  of  their  own ) , because  in  their  own  language  it  is  a liberal 
seat  of  learning  “untrammeled  with  old  standing  rules  and  cus- 
toms which  have  grown  up  around  the  ancient  universities.” 

This  home  for  young  men  is  supplied  with  all  of  the  modern 
conveniences,  separate  rooms  for  students,  class-rooms  for  the  tu- 
tors, and  a residence  for  a principal.  Since  the  new  hall  was  erected 
in  1882,  accommodating  thirty  students,  one  hundred  and  ten  have 
been  admitted,  of  whom  sixty-four  were  members  of  the  Religious 
Society  of  Friends.  By  this  late  movement,  English  Friends 
have  taken  a most  important  step  toward  giving  their  members 
all  of  the  advantages  of  full  college  and  university  courses  of  in- 
struction, without  actually  possessing  any  colleges  of  their  own. 
It  has  been  said  of  the  movement  that  “it  has  added  a top-stone 
to  the  educational  structure,  which  was  wanting  to  make  it  more 
complete.”  I may  add:  When  a similar  provision  to  that  of  Dal- 
ton Hall  is  made  in  England  for  the  young  women  of  our  relig- 
ious society  (in  Cambridge  or  elsewhere  as  may  be  deemed  best), 
the  educational  system  of  English  Friends,  although  different, 
may  be  considered  practically  equal  to  our  own. 

THE  CENTRAL  EDUCATIONAL  BOARD. 

For  the  following  interesting  description  of  a very  important 
educational  factor  now  at  work  among  English  Friends,  I am 
indebted  to  Henry  Thompson,  one  of  the  ablest  authorities  upon 
all  educational  matters  among  English  Friends  at  the  present 
time. 

“An  exceedingly  important  educational  influence  which  has 
arisen  among  English  Friends  within  the  past  few  years,  is  what 
is  called  ‘The  Central  Educational  Board.’  This  holds  its  meet- 
ings in  London,  and  is  constituted  of  representatives  of  the  yearly 
meeting,  representatives  of  the  committees  of  most  of  Friends’ 
public  schools,  and  of  the  superintendents  of  those  schools.  Its 
duty  is  to  act  as  a sort  of  vigilance  committee,  in  regard  to  all 
things  educational.  The  reports  of  the  schools  come  under  its 
inspection,  and  their  prominent  points  are  scheduled  for  the 
yearly  meeting,  and  commented  upon.  It  has  hitherto  main- 
tained a quiet  attitude  toward  established  methods,  but  has  now 


72  RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 

some  important  business  on  its  books,  and  its  well  wishers  are 
hopeful  that  it  will  prove  a serviceable  instrument  in  the  removal 
of  effete  ways,  and  the  provision  of  well  devised  schemes  for 
meeting  the  demands  of  the  rapidly  developing  science  of  edu- 
cation.” 

PICKERING  COLLEGE,  1 878. 

Pickering  College,  at  Pickering,  Ontario,  Canada,  was  opened 
to  students  in  1878.  It  is  the  only  college  under  the  care  of 
Friends  in  Canada.  For  forty  years  previous  to  the  opening  of 
this  college,  the  educational  center  of  Canadian  Friends  had  been 
at  Bloomfield,  where  they  had  kept  open,  during  that  period,  a 
successful  boarding  school.  When  the  Canada  Yearly  Meeting  was 
organized  in  1866,  steps  were  taken  to  remove  the  seat  of  Friends’ 
educational  interests  to  Pickering,  and  the  subsequent  establish- 
ment of  Pickering  College  was  the  result.  The  course  of  study, 
as  shown  by  its  announcement  in  its  catalogue,  does  not  equal 
that  of  most  other  colleges  under  the  care  of  Friends  on  this  con- 
tinent, and  carries  students  no  further  than  is  required  for  matric- 
ulation at  the  University  of  Toronto.  Both  sexes  are  admitted 
to  the  classes,  and  during  the  past  year  the  number  of  students 
enrolled  was  ninety-four.  Without  an  endowment  fund,  denom- 
inational schools  in  Canada  cannot  compete  with  the  high 
schools  and  collegiate  institutes  fostered  by  government  pat- 
ronage. 

ROCKLAND  SCHOOL  FOR  GIRLS,  1 8/8. 

Another  Boarding  School  conducted  by  Friends,  but  not  under 
the  care  of  any  meeting,  called  “ Rockland  School  for  Girls,” 
was  established  by  Henry  C.  Hallowed,  at  Sandy  Spring,  Md., 
in  the  same  year  as  Pickering  College,  1878.  It  was  continued 
for  fourteen  years,  closing  in  1892.  During  this  time,  234  differ- 
ent girls  and  young  women  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the  school, 
many  of  them  returning  year  after  year.  The  school  was  always 
an  excellent  one,  and  the  principal,  like  his  father  Benjamin 
Hallowed  in  Alexandria,  gave  especial  attention,  even  in  a girls’ 
school,  to  instruction  in  the  higher  mathematics.  This  school 
(in  connection  with  the  “ Stanmore  School  for  Girls,”  which  pre- 
ceded it  for  several  years,  under  the  charge  of  Carolina  H.  Miller, 
a daughter  of  Benjamin  Hallowed)  has  done  its  full  share  in 
this  generation  in  the  work  of  the  advanced  education  of  women. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


73 


Friends’  select  school,  Washington,  d.  c.,  1882. 

A Select  School  was  opened  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  by  Thomas 
W.  Sidwell,in  the  autumn  of  1882.  The  number  of  Friends  in  Wash- 
ington was  very  small,  but  it  was  thought  that  such  a school  was 
desirable,  and  that  it  could  be  supported  under  Friends’  care.  It 
opened  with  but  eleven  students,  but  the  number  reached  forty- 
five  before  the  close  of  the  year.  It  has  made  a steady  increase, 
and  now  numbers  nearly  two  hundred  students,  of  both  sexes, 
taught  together  in  the  classes  by  eleven  teachers,  five  of  whom 
are  members  of  our  Religious  Society.  It  has  established  a 
thorough  high  school  course  of  study,  and  sends  several  students 
each  year,  well  prepared,  to  the  different  colleges  of  the  country. 
Like  a number  of  the  successful  schools  among  Friends,  it  is  not 
directly  under  the  care  of  any  meeting. 

bryn  mawr,  1885. 

It  was  in  the  year  1877  that  the  will  of  Dr.  Joseph  W.  Taylor, 
of  Burlington,  N.  J.,  was  executed,  by  which  nearly  $1,000,000 
was  appropriated  to  the  founding  of  a college  for  young 
women,  at  Bryn  Mawr,  Pa.  It  was  originally  the  intention  of 
Dr.  Taylor,  as  he  personally  informed  me  a few  years  before  his 
death,  to  offer  to  establish  upon  Haverford  College  grounds  a 
college  for  women  on  a plan  similar  to  that  of  Sage  College,  at 
Cornell  University,  and  thus  make  Haverford  a co-educational 
college,  as  are  all  others  under  the  care  of  Friends  of  this  conti- 
nent. His  plan,  for  some  cause,  was  changed,  but  the  result 
today  is  one  of  the  foremost  institutions  in  the  country  for  the 
advanced  education  of  women.  Buildings  were  erected  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  students,  upon  what  is  known  as  “ The 
Cottage  Plan,”  and  the  college  was  opened  with  appropriate  in- 
auguration exercises  in  1885.  It  is  essentially  a Friends’  college, 
although,  like  Haverford  and  Swarthmore,  it  is  not  under  the 
care  of  any  meeting. 

By  its  charter  all  of  its  managers  must  be  members  of  the 
Religious  Society  of  Friends.  It  also  pursues  the  excellent  prac- 
tice of  offering  scholarships  to  the  best  prepared  students  from 
other  Friends’  colleges.  Although  assuming  the  more  humble 
name  of  a college,  it  has  been  from  the  first,  at  least,  partially 
deserving  of  the  title  of  a university.  It  has  adopted  the  group 


74 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


system  of  studies  as  practiced  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  and 
maintains  a high  standard  of  scholarship.  It  began  with  forty- 
four  students  the  first  year,  of  whom  eight  were  fellows  or  graduate 
students  from  other  colleges,  and  during  the  eight  years  of  its 
existence  it  has  made  a steady  increase,  until  the  present  year  it 
numbers  202  students,  of  whom  thirty-four  are  fellows  or  graduate 
students. 

The  average  age  of  the  young  women  upon  admission  has  been 
nineteen  years,  and  during  the  present  year  they  have  been  assem- 
bled from  twenty-four  states,  the  District  of  Columbia,  Canada, 
England  and  Japan.  The  fellows  and  graduate  students  of  the 
college  already  fill  important  positions  in  the  faculties  of  ten  of 
the  colleges  of  the  country,  both  our  own  colleges  and  those  not 
under  the  care  of  our  religious  society.  Of  the  sixty-six  bache- 
lors of  arts,  nineteen  are  engaged  in  teaching  in  colleges  and 
higher  schools  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  from  Massachu- 
setts to  California.  Few  institutions  of  learning,  for  either  sex, 
among  Friends’  or*elsewhere,  can  claim  such  a record  before  the 
close  of  their  first  decade. 

LEIGHTON  PARK  SCHOOL,  1 889. 

In  1889,  four  years  after  the  opening  of  Bryn  Mawr,  “ Leigh- 
ton  Park  School,”  near  Reading,  England,  was  opened  for  boys 
and  young  men.  It  is  under  the  care  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and 
was  founded  to  draw  away  the  rich  young  men  from  such  schools 
as  Eton,  Harrow,  etc.,  where  they  were  in  danger  of  losing  their 
Quakerism.  It  has  now  about  forty-five  students,  and  seems  to 
be  succeeding  in  its  object.  Although  not  claiming  the  name  of 
a college,  its  grade  is  about  equal  to  that  of  our  colleges  among 
Friends  in  this  country. 

HOBART  BOARDING  AND  DAY  SCHOOL,  189O. 

English  Friends  were  instrumental  in  having  established  three 
years  ago,  in  1890,  a boarding  and  day  school,  at  Hobart, 
Tasmania,  and  it  is  already  a great  success,  being  a large  and 
flourishing  school.  Like  nearly,  or  quite,  all  Friends’  schools  in 
this  country  at  the  present  time,  it  is  a mixed  school,  consisting 
of  students  of  the  various  religious  denominations. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


75 


PACIFIC  COLLEGE,  I89I. 

“Friends  Pacific  Academy”  was  founded  in  the  delightful 
Willamette  Valley,  at  Newberg,  Ore.,  on  a tract  of  twenty- 
three  acres,  donated  by  Friends,  in  1885.  It  was  organized  and 
opened  as  a college  six  years  after,  in  1891.  It  will  be  of  interest 
to  Eastern  Friends  to  know  that  the  Oregon  Yearly  Meeting,  which 
was  opened  in  Sixth  mo.  of  the  present  year,  numbers  more  than 
thirteen  hundred  members.  The  whole  number  of  students  of 
Pacific  College  enrolled  for  the  present  year  is  147, of  whom  twenty- 
nine  are  Freshmen,  the  rest  being  members  of  the  Preparatory 
Department.  The  college  faculty  consists,  at  present,  of  nine 
members,  five  of  whom  are  college  graduates,  and  all  are  teachers 
of  experience.  The  course  of  study  is  equal  to  that  of  other  col- 
leges in  that  part  of  the  country,  of  which  there  are  several, 
belonging  to  various  religious  denominations,  but  it  would  not  yet 
be  expected  to  compare  favorably  with  the  colleges  of  the  older 
states.  That  those  having  this  youngest  of  our  colleges  in  charge 
fully  appreciate  what  a college  should  be,  is  evident  from  the 
frank  and  full  statement  of  the  “ needs  of  the  college,”  which  they 
sent  out  in  a circular,  appealing  to  Friends  east  and  west  for  aid. 
Like  all  other  Friends’  colleges,  except  Haverford  and  Bryn 
Mawr,  it  is  co-educational. 

GEORGE  SCHOOL,  1893. 

The  last  on  this  list  of  Friends’  schools  is  the  “George  School,” 
to  be  opened  at  Newtown,  Pa.,  the  coming  month.  This  school 
is  established  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  John  M.  George,  of 
Overbrook,  Pa.,  who  left  most  of  his  estate,  amounting  to  nearly 
three-fourths  of  a million  of  dollars,  to  erect  and  maintain  a 
“boarding  school  for  the  education  of  children,  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  and  such  others  as  a committee  appointed  by 
the  Yearly  Meeting  may  think  proper.”  A faculty  of  ten  mem- 
bers has  been  secured,  five  men  and  five  women,  of  whom  four 
are  college  graduates,  and  all  are  members  of  our  religious  so- 
ciety. Grounds  containing  227  acres  have  been  chosen  near 
Newtown,  Pa.,  as  a site,  and  suitable  buildings  erected  upon  them 
(plain  but  substantial  and  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  a school) 
at  an  entire  cost  of  about  $150,000.  Both  sexes  are  to  be  ad- 
mitted and  taught  together  in  the  classes,  and  instruction  will 


y6 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


be  given  in  all  branches,  including  manual  training,  to  both  boys 
and  girls.  Three  courses  of  study  are  provided,  the  scientific, 
the  classical  and  the  literary,  covering  a period  of  five  years, 
students  being  admitted  at  twelve  years  of  age.  These  courses 
will  be  found  an  ample  preparation  for  college,  or  for  most  of  the 
avocations  of  life.  Children,  who  are  members  of  the  Religious 
Society  of  Friends  and  those  having  one  or  both  parents  mem- 
bers, are  to  receive  from  the  income  of  the  endowment  of  the 
school  an  abatement  of  one-third  of  the  regular  charges.  This 
school  promises  to  be  a valuable  instrumentality  toward  the  ad- 
vancement of  general  education  in  the  Religious  Society  of 
Friends. 

SOME  ADDITIONAL  SCHOOLS  OF  THIS  CENTURY. 

We  have  now  said  more  or  less  of  forty-three  educational  in- 
stitutions of  Friends  in  this  country  and  Great  Britain,  which 
have  taken  their  rise  between  1667  and  the  present  year,  or  dur- 
ing a period  of  226  years.  In  this  enumeration  doubtless  a num- 
ber of  excellent  schools,  equally  worthy  of  mention  with  some  of 
those  named,  have  been  omitted.  Without  giving  dates  and 
details,  which  I have  not  always  been  able  to  obtain  with  cer- 
tainty, I might  mention  some  of  these  belonging  to  the  present 
century. 

SCHOOLS  OF  THE  FIRST  HALF  OF  THIS  CENTURY. 

First,  I will  name  some  originating  in  the  first  half  of  the  cent- 
ury, or  what  I have  characterized  as  the  Era  of  the  Boarding 
School.  Such  are:  John  Bullock’s  and  Samuel  Smith’s  schools 
for  boys  in  Wilmington,  Del.;  John  Gummere’s  boarding  school 
for  boys  and  young  men,  at  Burlington,  N.  J.;  and  Joseph 
Foulke’s  for  boys,  at  Gwynedd,  Pa.;  Spring  Dale  Boarding 
School  for  girls,  in  Loudoun  county,  Va.,  kept  by  Samuel  M. 
Janney;  The  Deptford  School,  until  the  present  year  a flourishing 
school,  under  joint  care  of  members  of  both  branches  of  Friends, 
at  Woodbury,  N .J.;  Caleb  S.  Hallowell’s  school  for  boys,  at  Alexan- 
dria, Va.,  removed  to  Philadelphia,  when  the  Civil  war  broke  out; 
James  S.  HallowelPs  school  for  girls,  at  the  same  place,  continued 
in  Sandy  Spring,  Md.,  for  some  years  after  the  war;  Mary  S. 
Lippincott’s  boarding  school  for  girls,  at  Moorestown,  N.  J.,  and 
Henry  W.  Ridgway’s  for  boys,  at  Crosswicks,  N.  J.;  and  a number 
of  good  schools  for  girls,  in  Philadelphia,  kept  by  Sarah  Pugh  and 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS-  FOR  FRIENDS. 


77 


Sarah  Lewis,  John  Simmons,  Mary  Anna  and  Susan  Longstreth, 
Catharine  Robinson  and  sisters,  the  Thomas  sisters,  Annie 
Churchman  and  Susan  and  Mary  Cox. 

SCHOOLS  OF  CHESTER  COUNTY. 

To  this  list  must  be  added  a number  of  excellent  boarding 
schools  in  Chester  county,  Pa.,  which,  being  the  seat  of  Westtown, 
the  first  boarding  school  among  Friends  in  this  country,  seems  to 
have  been  especially  well  supplied  with  such  schools  through  the 
Era  of  the  Boarding  School.  The  principal  of  these  were  kept  by 
Joshua  Hoopes,  at  West  Chester,  a botanist  of  some  note,  and 
author  of  the  “Flora  Cestina”  (Chester  Co.,  Flora);  Jonathan 
Gause,  at  Unionville,  and  Benjamin  Swayne,  at  West  Grove,  all 
for  boys;  and  for  girls,  schools  were  kept  by  Philip  and  Rachel 
Price,  at  West  Chester;  the  Darlington  sisters,  also  at  West  Ches- 
ter, and  the  Kimber  sisters,  at  Kimberton. 

SCHOOLS  OF  THE  PRESENT  HALF  CENTURY. 

Among  those  belonging  to  the  present  half  century,  mostly 
still  in  existence,  are:  Martin  Academy,  at  Kennett  Square,  Pa., 
for  boys  and  girls,  endowed  by  Samuel  Martin;  Ercildoun  Acad- 
emy, at  Ercildoun,  Pa.,  for  boys,  taught  by  Smedley  Darlington, 
now  removed  to  West  Chester,  and  for  girls  only,  under  care  of 
Richard  Darlington;  Attleboro  Boarding  School,  Bucks  county, 
Pa.,  under  .Wm.  T.  Seal,  and  afterward  Israel  J.  Graham;  T. 
Clarkson  Taylor’s  school,  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  of  which  the 
successor  is  the  large  and  flourishing  school  of  Isaac  T.  Johnson, 
under  the  care  of  the  Monthly  Meeting;  Maple  Institute,  in  Del- 
aware county,  Pa.,  kept  by  Joseph  Shortledge;  Friends  Academy, 
Long  Island,  endowed  by  Gideon  Frost;  Miami  Valley  Institute, 
at  Springboro,  Ohio,  endowed  by  Jason  Evans,  and  carried  on 
for  some  years  as  a manual  labor  school  by  Dr  Aaron  Wright; 
and  Spiceland,  Fairmount  and  Bloomingdale  Academies,  in  In- 
diana; also  Friends  Academy,  at  Richmond,  Ind.,  with  a num- 
ber of  other  academies,  especially  throughout  the  Western  States, 
where  students  are  prepared  for  business  or  for  entering  upon  a 
college  course. 

FRIENDS’  SCHOOLS  AT  CAPE  TOWN  AND  NISMES. 

We  have  now  mentioned  in  all  seventy-eight  different  edu- 
cational institutions  under  care  of  Friends,  to  which  should  be 


78 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


added  a Friends’  school  established  in  Cape  Town,  Africa,  in 
1842,  and  one  at  Nismes,  in  Southern  France,  established  in  1847, 
of  which  schools  we  have  no  further  particulars. 

GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 

We  have  completed  the  detailed  review  of  the  principal  edu- 
cational institutions  which  have  been  conducted  by  Friends,  either 
individually,  or  in  the  capacity  of  the  meeting,  for  a period  of  226 
years,  including  in  all  referred  to  about  eighty  institutions,  cover- 
ing almost  the  entire  time  of  the  duration  of  our  Society.  From 
this  view  certain  characteristics  of  the  methods  and  results  of  an 
education,  as  given  by  Friends,  cannot  fail  to  have  been  impressed 
upon  the  mind.  For  clearness,  and  in  the  way  of  review,  some 
of  these  prominent  characteristics  may  properly  be  stated  here. 

First.  It  has  been  clearly  shown  that,  in  all  of  their  educa- 
tional efforts,  Friends  have  considered  first  of  all  the  cultivation 
of  the  religious  element  implanted  within  every  human  soul,  and, 
as  a consequence,  the  development  of  a manly  and  womanly 
character.  To  this,  all  of  the  training  of  the  intellect  has  ever 
been  understood  to  be  secondary  and  subservient.  No  education, 
however  liberal,  has  been  deemed  to  be  of  value,  unless  at  the 
same  time  that  education  has  been  strictly  a guarded  one,  in  the 
expressive  language  so  familiar  among  Friends. 

Second.  It  has  ever  been  the  aim  of  Friends  to  secure  a good 
ordinary  education  for  all,  and,  through  the  middle  period  of  their 
history,  they  even  sacrificed  to  this  aim  all  attempts  at  a higher 
education.  But  this  was  an  error  which  is  being  diligently  cor- 
rected in  modern  times.  It  must  have  been  observed  again  and 
again  in  this  history,  that,  beginning  with  educating  poor  Friends 
gratis  in  the  first  schools  set  up  by  the  advice  of  George  Fox, 
great  care  has  been  taken  to  bring  an  education  within  the  reach 
of  all,  and  in  thus  aiding  the  poor,  or  as  Friends  prefer  to  say, 
“those  in  necessitous  circumstances,”  it  has  ever  been  done  with 
a scrupulous  regard  for  their  feelings,  prompted  by  a true  spirit 
of  brotherly  love  which  prevails  among  Friends. 

Third.  Even  in  earlier  times  Friends  were  very  careful  to 
educate  girls  as  well  as  boys,  although  at  first  in  separate  schools; 
but  gradually  the  favorable  influence  of  the  sexes  upon  each 
other  when  educated  together  has  been  acknowledged,  until  now 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


79 


in  most  Friends’  schools,  mixed  classes  are  introduced,  and  the 
principle  of  co-education  is  very  generally  recognized.  As  a 
result  of  this  recognition  of  the  equality  of  the  sexes,  in  schools 
as  elsewhere,  for  several  generations  woman  occupies  in  the 
Society  of  Friends  a place  of  honor  and  usefulness  which  another 
pen  than  mine  has  clearly  and  forcibly  set  forth  uoon  this 
occasion. 

Fourth.  Friends  have  been  so  deeply  interested  in  the  edu- 
cation of  their  children  as  a primary  duty,  that,  as  is  observed  in 
newly  settled  countries  [See  the  example  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Indiana,  especially  referred  to  in  this  paper],  they  have  been  in 
advance  of  the  community  around  them  in  establishing  schools, 
and  in  the  professional  training  of  teachers. 

Fifth.  Friends,  as  a plain  and  practical  people,  have  ever 
cultivated  in  their  educational  systems  the  useful  and  the  prac- 
tical, rather  than  the  superficial  and  the  ornamental. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  a general  survey  of  the  entire  ground  covered  by  this 
paper,  we  see  Friends,  at  the  time  of  their  origin,  influenced  by  a 
number  of  educated  leaders,  who  had  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  a 
full  collegiate  and  university  training.  As  this  earlier  generation 
passed  away,  and  Friends  began  to  depend  upon  schools  of  their 
own  and  teachers  of  their  own  training,  who  had  never  enjoyed 
the  benefits  of  the  higher  education,  a dearth  of  teachers  who 
were  properly  qualified  for  their  work  intellectually  was  the  nat- 
ural result.  As  a consequence,  through  the  first  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  there  was  a manifest  decline  of  education 
among  Friends,  as  compared  with  the  community  by  which  they 
were  surrounded.  The  growing  consciousness  of  this  fact,  as  we 
have  seen,  gave  birth  to  the  Ackworth  school,  in  England,  in  the 
last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
century,  to  Westtown  school,  "in  this  country.  The  “Boarding 
School  Era”  followed,  covering  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century,  during  which  the  standard  of  education  and  the  re- 
quirements of  the  teaching  profession  steadily  advanced.  This 
advance  has  received  a new  and  powerful  impulse  in  the  last  half 
of  the  century,  which  has  been  characterized  by  the  develop- 
ment of  the  college  idea,  so  that  now  the  college  is  no  longer 


8o 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


what  it  once  was,  merely  the  stepping  stone  to  what  was  called 
one  of  the  learned  professions;  but,  by  the  generally  practical 
character  of  its  studies,  and  by  the  number  of  electives  introduced 
into  its  curriculum,  it  has  become  a real  necessity  for  all  who 
would  aspire  to  the  higher  positions  in  any  of  the  varied  walks 
of  life.  The  minds  of  Friends,  ever  a practical  people,  are  now 
becoming  thoroughly  imbued  with  this  idea,  and  rich  fruit  in  the 
educational  field,  in  the  generation  immediately  to  follow,  is  sure 
to  be  the  result. 

I cannot  close  this  paper  without  expressing  my  great  obliga- 
tions to  the  numerous  Friends  who  have  so  kindly  rendered  me 
aid  that  was  truly  invaluable  in  making  a collection  of  these  statis- 
tics, and  I should  especially  mention  among  these  Charles  and 
Henry  Thompson,  of  England;  President  James  E.  Rhoads,  of 
Bryn  Mawr;  President  Isaac  Sharpless,  of  Haverford,  and  Pres- 
ident L.  Lyndon  Hobbs,  of  Guilford  College. 


w 


* 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


8l 


The  Position  of  Woman  in  the  Society 

of  Friends. 

Elizabeth  Powell  Bond. 


IT  was  a part  of  the  illumination  of  George  Fox  that  “Christ  had 
enlightened  all  men  and  women  with  His  divine  and  saving 
light;”  that  “In  Christ  there  is  neither  male  nor  female.” 

Consistently  with  this  view  of  truth,  he  saw  man  and  woman 
possessed  of  the  same  spiritual  endowment,  holding  the  same  in- 
dividual relation  to  their  Divine  Creator,  charged  with  the  same 
commission  on  earth  as  children  of  the  Most  High,  and  alike 
commanded  to  work  as  hitherto  the  Father  has  worked.  Con- 
sistently with  this  view  of  truth  he  was  quick  to  recognize  the 
exercise  of  soul  experienced  by  women  no  less  than  by  men,  in 
those  days  of  earnest  protest  against  the  authority  assumed  by 
the  church,  and  of  earnest  vindication  of  the  individual  responsi- 
bility of  the  soul  to  its  Creator.  Consistently  with  this  view  of 
truth,  he  acknowledged  that  the  voice  of  the  Lord  might  be 
heard  in  the  soul  of  woman,  calling  her  to  every  service  that 
would  further  His  work  in  the  world.  As  the  leader  of  a relig- 
ious movement  that  should  bring  the  world  nearer  to  the  mind  of 
Christ,  he  consistently  organized  the  efforts  of  his  co-workers 
among  men  and  women  upon  a basis  of  entire  equality. 

In  the  history  of  primitive  Christianity  there  are  records  of 
women  who  were  active  in  the  missionary  work — by  their  preach- 
ing converting  many  souls  to  Christianity.  To  George  Fox  it 
seems  to  have  been  appointed  to  reinstate  woman  in  the  serv- 
ice to  which  the  early  church  had  welcomed  her.  The  message 
which  he  bore  to  the  world,  of  the  immediate  communion  of  each 
soul  with  the  Divine,  met  a quick  response  in  the  souls  of  women. 
One  of  the  earliest  recorded  results  of  his  labors  was  the  con- 
vincement  of  Elizabeth  Hooten,  the  first  woman  to  appear  in  the 


8 2 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


ministry  among  Friends.  Again,  it  was  early  in  1654  that  two 
women  Friends,  Isabel  Buttery  and  her  companion  from  the 
north  of  England,  undertook  to  distribute  in  London  a paper 
then  recently  issued  by  George  Fox,  on  “The  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.”  This  labor  was  assisted  by  Simon  and  Robert  Dring, 
who  opened  their  houses  to  such  as  were  inclined  to  come  to- 
gether in  the  new  way.  “These  were  the  first  meetings  of  Friends 
held  in  London,  and  were  mostly  seasons  of  silent  waiting,  ex- 
cept that  now  and  then  Isabel  did  speak  a few  words.” 

It  is  also  recorded  that  a large  proportion  of  those  who  opened 
their  houses  as  places  of  worship  were  women. 

While  it  is  apparent  that  in  the  mind  of  George  Fox  there  was 
never  any  question  that  women  were  called,  as  men  were,  to  be 
the  ministers  of  God,  it  is  also  true  that  he  was  nearly  alone  in 
this  clear  view  of  the  Truth — that  most  men  of  his  time  accepted 
as  their  authority  the  words  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians.  When, 
therefore,  women  appeared  in  the  public  ministry,  they  added 
another  element  of  irritation  for  those  who  bitterly  opposed  the 
teachings  of  the  early  Friends. 

A history  of  the  London  meetings  contains  the  statement  that 
“some  women  Friends  were  from  the  first  engaged  with  the 
brethren  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  but  during  the  early  evan- 
gelizing periods  the  public  meetings  were  frequented  by  too  mis- 
cellaneous an  assemblage  to  offer  suitable  scope  for  the  exercise 
of  this  class  of  gifts,  and  it  is  observable  in  the  minutes  of  the 
meeting  of  men  ministers  which  has  charge  over  such  service, 
that  the  assistance  of  their  sisters  in  public  ministry  was  rather 
discouraged  than  promoted.”  Not  only  the  troublous  condition 
of  the  times  was  a hindrance  to  the  public  service  of  women,  but 
a party  arose  in  the  society  itself,  opposed  to  separate  meetings 
for  women  who,  they  considered,  had  far  too  much  power  in  the 
church.  It  was  doubtless  to  answer  such  objections,  that,  in  “a 
letter  of  encouragement  to  all  the  women’s  meetings  in  the 
world,”  George  Fox  has  very  explicitly  set  forth  his  views.  In 
this  letter,  he  writes:  “Some  men,  now-a-days,  may  be  against 
women’s  meetings  or  assemblies  in  the  Gospel  times,  and  against 
women's  speaking  or  prophesying,  but  they  are  ignorant  of  the 
Universal  Spirit,  and  of  their  service  and  labor  to  God,  in  His 
grace  and  Gospel,  and  are  of  a niggardly,  narrow  spirit,  and  are 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


83 


not  the  true  servers  of  God  themselves;  for  if  they  were,  they 
would  have  all  people  to  serve  God  in  His  power,  and  to  keep 
the  true  religion,  which  is  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  the  widows, 
and  to  keep  themselves  from  the  spots  of  the  world.” 

“And  some  men  and  women  there  are  that  fear,  if  women 
should  meet  in  the  order  of  the  Gospel  the  power  of  God,  they 
would  be  too  high ; but  such  men  and  women  are  too  high  already, 
and  would  be  a ruling  spirit  over  men’s  and  women’s  possessions, 
and  waste  their  own;  for  if  they  were  in  the  Power  and  Spirit  of 
God  they  need  not  fear  any  one  getting  over  them;  for  the  Power 
and  Spirit  of  God  gives  liberty  to  all;  for  women  are  heirs  of  life 
as  well  as  the  men,  and  heirs  of  grace,  and  of  the  Light  of  Christ 
Jesus,  as  well  as  the  men,  and  so  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace 
of  God.” 

“And  they  must  all  give  an  account  of  their  stewardship,  and 
are  to  be  possessors  of  Life  and  Light  and  Grace,  and  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  and  to  labor  in  it,  and  to  keep  their  liberty  and  free- 
dom in  it,  as  well  as  the  men.” 

“And  they  are  believers  in  the  Light,  as  well  as  the  men,  and 
so  children  of  the  Light  and  of  the  Day,  as  well  as  the  men.” 

The  present  position  of  women  in  the  Society  of  Friends  has 
been  attained  by  a process  of  evolution.  In  the  beginning,  reluc- 
tantly accepted  by  many  of  the  brethren  as  co-workers;  finally, 
the  pressing  need  for  their  help,  brought  them  to  their  heaven- 
appointed  places.  According  to  the  testimony  of  Gilbert  Latey, 
addressed  to  the  women’s  meeting  of  London  in  1705,  it  was 
three  or  four  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  men’s  meeting, 
about  1669,  that  it  became  apparent  from  the  increasing  labors 
attendant  upon  caring  for  the  needs  of  those  suffering  and  im- 
poverished from  persecution,  that  women  must  be  enlisted  in 
this  work.  A company  of  men  Friends  met  to  consider  how  these 
pressing  needs  could  best  be  supplied,  when,  to  quote  the  quaint 
language  of  Gilbert  Latey,  “ it  was  opened  in  our  hearts  plainly, 
that  the  women,  being  added  to  us  as  helpmates,  would  answer 
the  service  which  was  so  needful,  and  that  we  could  no  longer  do 
without  their  help,  care  and  assistance.”  He  further  states,  “ the 
matter  being  proposed  to  George  Fox  and  the  rest  of  the  brethren, 
they  very  well  approved  it  and  consented  we  might  be  joined  to- 
gether in  the  work  and  service  of  the  Lord  among  His  people. 


84 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS 


It  was  forthwith  ordered  that  the  names  of  the  ancient  women 
Friends  from  all  parts  of  the  city  and  suburbs  should  be  taken, 
which  was  done,  and  some  from  every  quarter  met,  who  readily 
associated;  and  there  was  a heavenly  union  in  our  being  thus 
joined  together,  and  the  Lord  was  with  us  and  among  us,  and 
continued  His  good  presence,  both  with  them  and  us  to  this 
day.”  The  meetings  of  the  women  in  this  service  were  known  as 
the  two  weeks’  meetings,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  a first  step 
toward  the  establishment  of  women’s  fneetings  for  discipline. 
The  box  meeting  in  London,  named  from  the  custom  of  placing 
at  the  door  a box  for  contributions  of  money  to  be  used  for  the 
necessities  of  the  poor,  was  another  meeting  of  women  only,  and 
wholly  unallied  with  men’s  meetings.  This  meeting  was  estab- 
lished by  George  Fox,  in  response  to  the  urgent  appeal  of  a 
woman  Friend  who  felt  that  this  was  a further  provision  for  suffer- 
ing members.  In  1790  a fusion  of  these  two  meetings  was  agreed 
upon,  a meeting  to  be  held  once  a month,  to  be  named  hence- 
forward the  “ Meeting  of  Woman  Friends  of  London  for  trans- 
acting the  business  of  the  two  weeks’  and  box  meetings.” 

From  the  establishment  of  monthly  meetings  it  was  the  prac- 
tice for  women  to  sit  with  men  Friends  in  these  meetings  for 
discipline,  sharing  in  the  discipline.  The  several  monthly  meet- 
ings of  the  London  quarterly  meetings,  in  1755,  seem  to  have 
acted  independently  of  each  other  in  the  matter  of  separate  meet- 
ings. In  the  meetings  in  which  women  in  no  wise  shared  the 
responsibility,  their  attendance  greatly  diminished.  At  this  time, 
1755,  the  “London  Yearly  Meeting  is  found  earnest  in  its  desire 
and  advice  for  women’s  monthly  meetings  to  be  established, 
which,  so  far  as  London  is  concerned,  then  took  place;  and  a 
joint  meeting  for  worship  of  men  and  women  Friends  came  to  be 
held  previously,  as  is  now  the  case.”  When,  finally,  the  women’s 
quarterly  meetings  proposed  the  establishment  of  the  women’s 
yearly  meeting,  it  was  eight  or  nine  years  before  the  men’s  meet- 
ing consented  to  it. 

Thus  we  see,  how  the  clear  and  consistent  view  of  George  Fox, 
concerning  the  position  of  women  in  the  Society  of  Friends, 
gradually  prevailed  over  a narrower  view,  until  there  came  a day 
in  which  men’s  and  women’s  meetings  were  very  nearly  co-ordi- 
nate in  privilege  and  power  Today  they  share  equally  in  the 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


85 


declaration  of  the  Truth;  they  act  jointly  in  all  the  great  interests 
of  the  society;  they  work  together  in  philanthropic  and  educa- 
tional concerns;  together  they  discharge  the  obligations  im- 
posed by  large  trusts  committed  to  the  society.  The  question, 
which  now  deeply  agitates  some  sections  of  the  Christian  church, 
concerning  the  position  of  their  women,  was  long  ago  settled  in 
the  Society  of  Friends;  and  “the  Lord  was  with  us  and  among  us 
and  has  continued  His  good  presence  to  this  day.” 

Not  only  as  a member  of  the  society  has  woman’s  position  of 
equal  privilege  and  responsibility  been  assured,  but  her  woman- 
hood has  been  delicately  respected. 

George  Fox  declared  women  to  be  “Believers  in  the  Light  as 
well  as  the  men,  and  so  children  of  the  Light  and  of  the  Day.”  In 
the  sacred  relationship  of  marriage,  these  “children  of  the  Light 
and  of  the  Day”  have  been  spared  the  humiliation  of  an  exacted 
promise  of  obedience,  and  instead,  have  been  welcomed  to  an 
equal  partnership  in  which  the  mutual  promise  is  given  to  be 
“loving  and  faithful.” 

In  Margaret  Fell,  who,  seventeen  years  after  her  convincement 
by  his  preaching,  became  his  wife,  George  Fox  found  his  peer. 
The  spiritual  doctrine  which  he  taught  met  a ready  acceptance 
from  her  clear  sight.  Whither  the  acceptance  of  this  doctrine 
led,  she  was  prepared  to  follow  into  the  king’s  presence,  or  his 
chancellor’s,  to  plead  for  the  sufferers  in  prison  for  conscience’ 
sake,  into  the  loathsome  prison  itself,  where  for  five  years  she 
bore  brave  convictions.  She  is  one  of  many  women  who  shared 
the  persecutions  that  were  the  price  of  this  day’s  freedom. 

More  than  a hundred  years  later  came  Elizabeth  Fry,  great- 
granddaughter  of  Robert  Barclay,  a co-worker  with  George  Fox. 
The  day  of  persecution  has  gone  by.  Not  as  a prisoner  in  bonds 
for  conscience’  sake  did  she  find  herself  in  Newgate;  but  remem- 
bering, “as  bound  with  them,”  the  distressed  and  degraded 
prisoners,  this  cultivated  and  elegant  woman,  wife  and  mother  in 
a refined  home,  turned  her  efforts  toward  the  horrors  of  the  En- 
glish prison  system,  never  to  rest  from  her  labors  until  imprison- 
ment should  be  not  only  for  punishment,  but  also  for. reform.  On 
this  side  the  Atlantic,  closely  allied  by  association  and  by  ties  of 
blood  to  some  here  present,  lived  and  labored  our  revered 
Lucretia  Mott,  one  of  the  standard  bearers  of  Truth.  Her  gen- 


86 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


eration  was  not  without  its  test  questions.  She,  too,  was  the 
center  of  beautiful  home-life;  she  was  rarely  gifted  as  a religious 
teacher,  and  she  was  quick  to  ally  herself  with  those  who  made 
themselves  of  no  reputation  in  the  labors  for  the  nation’s  despised 
and  rejected  race.  She,  a “child  of  Light  and  of  the  Day,”  radi- 
antly led  the  way  for  all  women  toward  the  largeness  of  destiny, 
the  fullness  of  life,  to  which  womanhood  is  called  of  God.” 

Margaret  Fox,  Elizabeth  Fry,  Lucretia  Mott,  like  many 
others  called  to  the  public  service  of  the  Truth,  were  public  min- 
isters on  the  days  that  demanded  that  service;  and  when  that 
labor  was  accomplished  straightway  retired  to  the  home,  there  to 
meet  every  requirement  of  the  faithful  wife  and  devoted 
mother. 

To  be  acknowledged  a worthy  minister  of  God’s  Truth,  an 
acceptable  worker  in  the  church,  a helpmate  in  all  the  vineyards 
of  the  Lord,  an  equal  partner  in  the  home,  this  is  what  Quakerism 
has  brought  to  woman;  this  is  the  emancipation  wrought  by  that 
“Light  which  lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the  world.”  It  is 
an  incalculable  debt  which  all  womanhood  owes  to  George  Fox 
and  to  those  who  worked  and  suffered  with  him,  and  have  con- 
tinued his  testimonies  from  generation  to  generation.  For,  the 
consecrated  liberty  of  womanhood  in  the  Society  of  Friends, 
the  liberty  to  respond  to  every  call  of  the  Father  in  behalf  of  His 
children,  the  liberty  to  grow  in  the  service  of  Truth,  is  a leaven 
at  work  everywhere  in  the  Christian  world,  emancipating  woman 
from  ignoble  social  tyranny,  and  enlisting  all  her  powers  of  mind 
and  heart  and  soul  in  behalf  of  the  world’s  vital  needs. 

When  George  Fox  wrote  the  pregnant  words:  “Women  are 
heirs  of  Life,  as  well  as  the  men,  and  heirs  of  grace,  and  of  the 
Light  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  so  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of 
God,”  he  foretold  the  day  whose  dawn  is  already  upon  us,  “in 
which  woman  shall  have  come  to  her  inheritance,  and  put  on  the 
whole  armor  of  God,  in  which  to  be  true  wife,  wise  mother, 
noble  woman,  in  the  home,  in  the  church,  in  the  state.” 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


s; 


Our  Thought  with  Regard  to  Co-operation 
of  Distinct  Faiths. 


Robert  S.  Haviland. 


UpAN  two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed?”  was  the 

V_y  query  of  the  ancient  prophet. 

The  query  of  today  is  no  less  pertinent: 

Should  two  walk  apart  in  the  things  wherein  they  are  agreed? 

These  great  gatherings,  in  which  earnest,  devoted  men  of  all 
shades  of  religious  opinion  may  find  a common  interest  and  a 
common  purpose,  speak  well  for  religious  growth  and  develop- 
ment. 

I am  asked  to  present  to  you  some  thought  with  regard  to 
co-operation  of  distinct  faiths  in  labor  against  jointly  recognized 
evils. 

Labor,  in  whatever  direction  we  may  apply  it,  should  ever 
seek  the  most  effective  channels,  and  the  most  efficient  means  to 
employ  its  powers. 

All  force  expended,  which  is  not  necessary  to  accomplish,  the 
purpose  intended,  is  wasted  energy,  and  the  great  question  of  the 
world  today  is,  to  so  attach  the  car  of  human  progress  to  the 
Powers  of  the  Universe,  that  we  may  attain  the  greatest  results 
with  the  least  expenditure  of  human  energy. 

To  utilize  the  vital  Powers  of  the  Universe  we  must  co-operate, 
not  alone  with  those  forces,  but  with  the  human  forces  as  well, 
instead  of  working  upon  independent  lines  as  in  the  earlier  days. 

The  powers  of  steam  and  of  electricity  have  compelled  men 
to  mass  their  efforts  in  joint  action  for  a common  end,  and 
machinery  has  been  so  adapted  to  human  action  as  to  supple- 
ment and  supplant  the  labor  of  man,  and  require  of  him  a higher 
degree  of  intelligence,  and  a lower  degree  of  physical  strength, 
than  was  formerly  required. 


88 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


The  steam  engine  and  the  dynamo  have  added  untold  power, 
and  wealth  and  advancement  to  the  nations  which  have  availed 
themselves  of  those  powers. 

The  greatest  of  the  natural  forces,  electricity,  so  silent,  yet  so 
powerful  in  its  effect  upon  matter,  is  comparable  to  the  spiritual 
force  in  its  effect  upon  the  mind  of  man — a power  seemingly 
mysterious  and  but  little  understood,  but  no  less  definite  in  its 
action,  no  less  powerful  in  its  results — moving  under  laws  no 
less  certain  and  requiring,  if  we  would  attain  its  greatest  results, 
the  co-operation  of  human  mind,  and  human  effort  for  their 
accomplishment. 

Shall  it  be  said  of  us  today  “The  children  of  this  world  are 
in  their  generation  wiser  than  the  children  of  Light?” 

There  should  be  nothing  in  our  religion  that  keeps  us  from 
co-operating  with  those  of  other  faiths  in  anything  which  we 
recognize  as  good,  or  against  anything  which  is  evil. 

If  there  is,  let  us  see  if  it  be  not  a barnacle  that  has  attached 
itself  from  without  rather  than  an  outgrowth  from  the  spirit- 
ual life  within,  which  impedes  progress  and  does  not  impart 
strength. 

Is  it  not  irreligion,  rather  than  religion,  which  keeps  us  apart? 

Every  great  movement  for  a worthy  purpose  should  have  the 
cordial  co-operation  of  every  religionist,  the  hearty  indorsement 
of  every  sect. 

We,  of  the  Christian  name,  need  only  to  refer  to  the  Founder 
and  Perfector  of  our  faith  for  guidance  in  this  direction. 

He  who  proclaimed  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  at  Jacob's  well, 
the  great  Truth  of  religion,  “God  is  a Spirit,  and  they  that  worship 
Him  must  worship  Him  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth,”  proclaimed  it  to 
one  whose  life  had  been  sinful,  whose  faith  was  heterodox  from 
the  Jewish  standpoint,  she  being  a Samaritan,  and  yet  without 
endeavoring  to  correct  her  theology  he  recognized  the  change 
of  heart  and  purpose,  and  permitted  her  to  go  forth  as  a Gospel 
messenger,  with  the  availing  invitation,  “Come  see  a Man  which 
told  me  all  things  that  ever  I did.  Is  not  this  the  Christ?” 

He  who  rebuked  His  disciples  because  they  were  disturbed  at 
one  who  was  casting  out  devils  in  His  name,  but  was  not  His 
follower,  said  that  such  could  not  lightly  speak  evil  of  Him,  “for 
he  that  is  not  against  us,  is  on  our  part.” 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


89 


He,  who  in  loving  invitation  extended  to  those  who  had  min- 
istered to  the  needs  of  the  suffering  and  the  sinful  of  earth,  said, 
“Come,  ye  blessed  of  My  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  For  I was  a hungered, 
and  ye  gave  Me  meat;  I was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  Me  drink;  I 
was  a stranger,  and  ye  took  Me  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  Me; 
I was  sick,  and  ye  visited  Me;  I was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto 
Me." 

“Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these, 
My  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me.” 

Service  for  our  fellowmen,  who  need  our  aid,  is  service  for 
Christ,  and  if  we  fail  in  such  service  the  sentence  of -dismissal  is 
ours  for  wasted  opportunity. 

“Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did 
it  not  unto  Me.” 

Religion  does  not  consist  in  finely  woven  creeds  and  defin- 
itions of  how  God  saves  men.  It  does  consist  in  availing  ourselves 
of  His  power  and  love,  in  attaching  our  lives  to  the  great  spirit- 
ual force  of  the  universe  and  working  in  harmony  with  it  and  in 
obedience  to  it;  by  listening  to  the  Divine  voice  which  speaks 
within  each  soul,  which  calls  us  to  deeds  of  mercy  and  helpful- 
ness and  love,  and  by  being  obedient  to  these  spiritual  revealings. 

This  will  give  us  a service  and  a power  which  will  be  in  har- 
mony with  all  who  are  brought  under  the  same  Divine  influence 
of  whatever  name  or  denomination,  and  will  be  “mighty  through 
God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds.” 

So  far  as  creeds  and  definitions  give  us  a true  conception  of 
God  and  the  wonderful  workings  of  His  power  in  man’s  redemp- 
tion and  salvation  from  everything  that  is  evil,  and  bring  a fuller 
realization  of  His  love,  they  are  of  service  in  our  religious 
progress. 

God  holds  the  universe,  the  world  we  inhabit,  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars  in  their  courses,  not  by  the  rigid  power  of  a single  force, 
but  by  the  elasticity  of  opposing  forces,  by  laws  of  attraction  and 
repulsion,  by  centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces. 

A head  religion  standing  alone  ever  separates;  a heart  religion 
ever  unites;  work  in  the  service  of  humanity  binds  together  by 
the  unity  of  a common  purpose  those  who  otherwise  would  be  at 
variance,  and  head,  hand  and  heart  combined  makes  the  complete 
and  perfect  service. 


90  RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  .FOR  FRIENDS. 

In  each  of  our  lives  we  find  the  opposing  elements.  “ For  the 
flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit  and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh; 
and  these  are  contrary,  the  one  to  the  other;”  our  life  work  is  to 
so  live  in  the  Spirit  as  to  walk  in  the  Spirit  and  not  fulfill  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh. 

That  faith  which  impels  to  good  works  is  a saving  faith. 

That  faith  which  fosters  and  protects  the  evil  is  of  necessity 
false. 

The  Apostle  James  assures  us  “Faith,  if  it  hath  not  works,  is 
dead,  being  alone,”  and  citing  the  works  of  faithful  Abraham, 
says: 

“Seest  thou  how  faith  wrought  with  His  works,  and  by  works 
was  faith  made  perfect.” 

“For  as  the  body  without  the  Spirit  is  dead,  so  faith  without 
works  is  dead  also.” 

If  works,  then,  be  essential  for  the  perfecting  of  our  faith — 
for  the  development  of  our  life — it  is  alike  essential  that  we  work 
as  God  would  have  us  work,  in  harmony  with  His  laws  and  in 
harmony  with  all  who  are  workers  in  a kindred  cause. 

Success  crowns  our  efforts;  we  receive  a reward  for  our  labors, 
just  in  the  measure  that  they  are  brought  within  the  scope  of 
God’s  laws  with  reference  thereto. 

God  has  so  constituted  the  human  brain  that  there  is  as  much 
variety  of  thought  as  there  is  variety  of  countenance,  and  this 
interchange  of  varying  thought  helps  to  keep  the  mind  from  stag- 
nation. 

It  is  not  requisite  that  we  should  all  be  united  in  one  great 
religious  denomination,  or  that  the  number  of  sects  should  be 
lessened,  but  that  sectarian  jealousy  shall  cease,  that  we  judge 
the  tree  by  its  fruits,  and  that  we  each  be  found  fruitful  in  good 
works;  that  we  be  found  in  all  our  denominations  a united  body 
against  all  manner  of  evil,  and  present  a solid  front  in  opposition 
to  all  forms  of  iniquity  and  in  the  uplifting  of  the  people  and 
the  furtherance  of  every  good  word  and  work. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  by  a seven  years’  successful  effort,  and 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  by  a more  recent  one  in  the  same  direction,  stand 
before  us  today  as  grand  object  lessons,  demonstrating  the  power 
of  combined  effort,  to  overthrow  the  giant  evil  of  our  land — in- 
temperance. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


91 


Let  me  re-echo  the  noble  words  of  Archbishop  Ireland  at  an 
earlier  congress  in  this  building: 

“All  methods  in  themselves  legitimate,  shall  be  welcomed  by 
me,  and  shall  receive  my  heartiest  co-operation. 

“When  a giant  evil  stalks  through  the  land  I call  for  allies  from 
all  directions,  whatever  be  their  peculiar  aims,  or  whatever  their 
peculiar  organization — each  and  every  one  of  them  will  do  some- 
thing to  weaken  and  repel  the  enemy,  and  this  is  the  end  we  are 
seeking. 

“I  have  said  that  I invoke  the  energies  of  men  and  women.  I 
now  say,  I invoke  the  energies  of  people  of  all  forms  of  Christian 
belief,  and  of  people  who  if  not  Christians  have  yet  to  heart  nat- 
ural morals  and  good  citizenship. 

“It  is  useless  to  hope  in  our  present  conditions  that  public 
opinion  can  be  affected  and  public  dangers  repulsed,  if  we  do  not 
bring  together,  as  citizens,  all  our  forces  and  act  as  one  people, 
independently  of  church  organizations  or  other  limited  influences.” 

Pittsburg  has  demonstrated  that  it  is  possible  for  the  Catholic 
priest  and  the  Protestant  clergyman  to  work  side  by  side  har- 
moniously in  religious  service — to  address  from  the  same  platform 
those  of  both  faiths,  gathered  in  the  one  great  congregation — to 
effectively  unite  them  in  earnest  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  suffer- 
ing and  the  sinful — and  to  draw  to  their  services  a large  number 
of  those  who  are  outside  of  any  religious  organization. 

To  detail  the  plans  for  such  co-operation  is  not  so  easy  a task 
as  to  assert  its  importance. 

They  must  indeed  take  shape  from  surrounding  circumstances 
and  conditions.  The  simpler  and  more  comprehensive  the  organ- 
ization the  better  the  results  to  be  anticipated. 

The  Religious  Society  of  Friends  has  been  in  the  past  one  of 
the  most  conservative  of  all  the  religious  organizations  in  the 
direction  of  co-operative  work  with  others — today  we  extend 
through  our  Philanthropic  Union  the  right  hand  of  fellowship 
and  service  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  a similar  labor  for  the  up- 
lifting of  humanity  and  of  staying  the  tide  of  vice  and  op- 
pression. 

Through  our  committees  on  peace  and  arbitration,  temper- 
ance, social  purity,  prison  reform  and  kindred  subjects,  we  seek 
the  co-operative  aid  of  all  who  have  these  interests  at  heart. 


92 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


From  the  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  we  may  at  least  learn 
how  each  may  be  loyal  to  their  own  religious  organization  and 
yet  contribute  to  the  general  good. 

This  congress  will  have  fallen  short  of  its  highest  achieve- 
ment, if  it  shall  not  have  drawn  us  nearer  together  in  the  great 
work  of  the  world’s  advancement,  and  united  us  in  the  one  great 
brotherhood  of  service  for  God  through  service  for  humanity. 

I believe  the  movement  here  inaugurated  is  but  the  forerunner 
of  many  such,  and  that  we  will  yet  learn  that  united  services  and 
co-operation  of  the  different  faiths  will  best  promote  the  cause  of 
truth  and  righteousness  in  the  earth. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


93 


Not  Creed,  but  Character. 


Grounds  of  Sympathy  and  Fraternity  between  Religious  Men  and  Women. 


AARON  M.  Powell,  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  of  New  York, 
delivered  an  address  on  “The  Grounds  of  Sympathy  and 
Fraternity  among  Religious  Men.”  He  said:  “It  is  in  behalf  of 
one  of  the  smaller  religious  bodies,  the  Society  of  Friends,  that 
I am  invited  to  speak  to  you.  In  the  time  allotted  it  would  be 
quite  impossible  to  cover  exhaustively  the  whole  field  of  my 
broad  subject,  “The  Grounds  of  Sympathy  and  Fraternity  among 
Religious  men.” 

It  is  altogether  natural  and  proper  that  in  form  and  method 
and  ritual  there  should  be  diversity,  great  diversity,  among  the 
peoples  interested  in  religion  throughout  the  world;  but  it  is  also 
possible,  as  it  is  extremely  desirable,  that  there  should  be  unity, 
fraternity  and  co-operation  in  the  promulgation  of  simple  spirit- 
ual truth.  To  illustrate  my  thought  I may  say  that  not  very  long 
ago  I went  to  one  of  the  great  Salvation  Army  meetings  in  New 
York  with  two  of  my  personal  friends,  who  were  also  members  of 
the  Society  of  Friends.  It  was  one  of  those  meetings  full  of  en- 
thusiasm with  volleys  innumerable,  and  we  met  that  gifted  and 
eloquent  Queen  of  the  Army,  Mrs.  Ballington  Booth,  to  whom  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  introducing  my  two  Quaker  friends.  Taking 
in  the  humor  of  the  situation,  she  said:  “Yes,  we  have  much  in 
common;  you  add  a little  quiet  and  we  add  a little  noise.” 

The  much  in  common  between  these  two  very  different  peo- 
ples, the  noisy  Salvationists  and  the  quiet  Quakers,  is  in  the  ap- 
plication of  admitted  Christian  truth  to  human  needs.  It  is 
along  that  line  that  my  thought  must  lead  this  morning  with  regard 
to  unity  and  fraternity  among  religious  men  and  religious  women. 
Every  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  some  conception  of  the 
Supreme  and  the  Infinite.  It  is  common  to  all  classes,  all  races, 
all  nationalities;  but  the  Christian  ideal,  according  to  my  own 


94 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


conception,  is  the  highest  and  most  complete  ideal  of  all.  It  em- 
braces most  fully  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of 
mankind. 

Justice  and  mercy  and  love  it  maintains  as  due  from  each  to 
all.  There  are  no  races,  there  are  no  territorial  limitations  or  ex- 
ceptions. Even  the  most  untutored  have  always  been  found  to 
be  amenable  to  the  presentation  of  this  fundamental  Christian 
thought  exemplified  in  a really  Christian  life.  Here  I may  illus- 
trate by  the  experience  of  William  Penn  among  the  Indians  of 
North  America.  He  came  to  them  as  their  brother  and  as  their 
friend,  to  exemplify  the  principles  of  justice  and  truth.  It  is  a 
matter  of  history  that  the  relations  between  Penn  and  the  Qua- 
kers and  the  Indians  have  been  exceptional  and  harmonious,  on 
the  basis  of  this  ideal  brotherhood  of  man.  Alas,  that  all  the  In- 
dians in  America  might  not  have  had  representatives  of  this 
Quaker  humane  thought  to  deal  with!  What  a different  page 
would  have  been  written  in  American  history? 

Many  years  later  another  Friend  was  sent  out  under  President 
Grant’s  administration  to  labor  as  a superintendent  among  the 
Indians,  the  noble-hearted,  true  Quaker,  Samuel  M.  Janney.  As 
he  went  among  the  Indians  committed  to  his  charge,  he  not  only 
undertook  to  deal  with  them  with  reference  to  their  material  in- 
terests, but  he  also  sought  to  labor  among  them  as  their  friend, 
and  in  a certain  sense  as  a religious  helper  and  teacher.  He 
talked  with  those  Indians  in  Nebraska  about  spiritual  things. 
They  could  understand  about  the  Great  Spirit  as  they  listened  to 
him,  and  he  told  them,  furthermore,  the  wonderful  story  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  commending  His  teaching  and  the  lesson  of  His 
life  and  His  death  to  them.  They  listened,  with  regard  to  the 
Son,  as  they  had  with  reverence  to  the  Father,  but  he  could  not 
impress  them,  in  the  face  of  their  sad  experience,  with  a so-called 
Christian  Nation,  with  the  virtues  of  the  Son. 

REPLY  OF  THE  INDIAN. 

Finally  one  old  chief  said  to  him:  “We  know  about  the 
Father,  but  the  Son  has  not  been  along  this  way  yet.” 

I do  not  wonder,  in  the  light  of  the  record  which  this  so-called 
Christian  nation  had  made  in  dealing  with  those  Indians,  that 
they  thought  that  they  had  never  seen  the  Son  out  that  way  yet. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


95 


It  is,  alas,  to  our  shame,  as  a people,  that  it  must  be  said  as  a mat- 
ter of  historic  truth,  that  the  very  reverse  of  the  Christian  spirit 
has  been  the  spirit  shown  in  dealing  with  the  Indians,  who  have 
been  treated  with  bad  faith  and  untold  cruelty. 

A fresh  and  living  instance  of  this  spirit  is  illustrated  in  the 
chapter  we  are  now  writing  so  shamefully  in  our  dealings  with 
the  Chinese.  We  are  sending  missionaries  abroad  to  China,  but 
what  are  we  teaching  by  example  in  America  with  reference  to 
the  Chinese  except  the  Godless  doctrine  that  they  have  no  rights 
which  we  are  bound  to  respect?  We  are  receiving  lessons,  valu- 
able and  varied,  from  these  distinguished  representatives  of  other 
religions,  but  what  are  we  to  say  in  their  presence  of  our  short- 
comings, measured  by  the  standard  of  our  high  Christian  ideal, 
which  recognizes  the  brotherhood  of  all  mankind  and  God  as  the 
common  Father? 

I want  to  say  that  the  potential  religious  life — and  it  is  a lesson 
which  is  being  emphasized  day  by  day  by  this  wonderful  parlia- 
ment— is  not  a creed  but  character.  It  is  for  this  message  that  the 
waiting  multitude  listens.  We  have  many  evidences  of  this 
Among  the  recent  deaths  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  which 
awaken  world-wide  echoes  of  lamentation  and  regret,  there  has 
been  no  one  so  missed  and  so  mourned  as  a religious  teacher  in 
this  century  as  Phillips  Brooks. 

Cne  thing  above  all  else  which  characterized  the  ministry  of 
Phillips  Brooks  was  his  interpretation  of  spiritual  power  in  the 
life  of  the  individual  human  soul.  The  one  poet  who  has  voiced 
this  thought  most  widely  in  our  own  and  in  other  countries, 
whose  words  are  to  be  found  in  the  afterpart  of  the  general  pro- 
gram of  this  parliament,  is  the  Quaker  poet,  Whittier.  His  words 
are  adapted  to  world  wide  use  by  all  who  enter  into  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  in  its  utmost  simplicity.  In  seeking  the  grounds  of 
fraternity  and  co-operation,  we  must  not  look  in  the  region  of 
forms  and  ceremonies  and  rituals,  wherein  we  may  all  very  prop- 
erly differ,  and  agree  to  differ,  as  we  are  doing  here,  but  we 
must  seek  them  especially  in  the  direction  of  unity  and  action 
for  the  removal  of  the  world’s  great  evils. 

I believe  we  stand  today  at  the  dividing  of  the  ways,  and 
whether  or  not  there  shall  follow  this  parliament  of  religions 
any  permanent  committee,  or  any  general  organization,  looking 


q6 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


to  the  creation  of  a universal  church,  I do  hope  that  one  outcome 
of  this  great  commingling  will  be  some  sort  of  action  between 
the  peoples  of  the  different  religions,  looking  to  the  removal  of 
the  great  evils  which  stand  in  the  pathway  of  the  progress  of  all 
true  religion. 

Part  of  my  speech  has  been  made  this  morning  by  the  eloquent 
ex-governor  who  preceded  me,  but  I will  emphasize  his  remarks 
with  regard  to  arbitration.  There  were  two  illustrations  of  my 
thought  to  which  he  did  not  make  specific  reference.  One  is 
recent  in  the  Behring  Sea  arbitration.  What  a blessing  that  is  as 
compared  with  the  old-fashioned  method  of  settling  the  differ- 
ences between  this  country  and  Great  Britain  by  going  to  war. 
We  may  rejoice  and  take  courage  in  this  fresh  illustration  of  the 
practicability  of  arbitration  between  two  great  and  powerful 
nations. 

I may  cite  also  one  other  illustration,  the  Geneva  award,  which 
at  the  time  it  occurred  was  perhaps  even  more  remarkable  than 
the  more  recent  arbitration  of  the  Behring  Sea  dispute.  Among 
the  exhibits  down  yonder  at  the  White  city,  which  you  doubtless 
have  seen,  is  the  great  Krupp  gun.  It  is  a marvelous  piece  of  in- 
ventive ingenuity.  It  is  absolutely  appalling  in  its  possibilities 
for  the  destruction  of  humanity.  Now,  if  the  religious  people  of 
the  world,  whatever  their  name  or  form,  will  unite  in  a general 
league  against  war  and  resolve  to  arbitrate  all  difficulties,  I believe 
that  that  great  Krupp  gun  will,  if  not  preserved  for  some  museum, 
be  literal^  melted  and  recast  into  plow-shares  and  pruning 
hooks. 

This  parliament  has  laid  very  broad  foundations.  It  is  pre- 
senting an  object  lesson  of  immense  value.  In  June  I had  the 
privilege  of  assisting  here  in  another  world’s  congress,  wherein 
were  representatives  of  various  nationalities  and  countries.  We 
had  on  the  platform  the  distinguished  archbishop  of  St.  Paul,  that 
great  liberal  Catholic,  Archbishop  Ireland.  Sitting  near  him  was 
Father  Cleary,  his  neighbor  and  friend — another  noble  man.  Sit- 
ting near  those  two  Catholics  was  Adjutant  Vickery,  of  the  Salvation 
Army,  the  representative  of  Mrs.  Ballington  Booth,  who  was  un- 
able through  sickness  to  be  present.  Near  these  there  were  sev- 
eral members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  along  with  them  were 
some  Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  Presbyterians  and  one 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


9 7 


Unitarian  whose  face  I see  here  today.  All  these  were  tremen- 
dously in  earnest  to  strike  a blow  at  one  of  the  great  obstacles  to 
the  progress  of  Christian  life  in  Europe — state  regulated  vice. 

I cannot  deal  in  detail  with  that  subject  now,  but  I may  say 
that  it  is  the  most  infamous  system  of  slavery  of  womanhood  and 
girlhood  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  exists  in  most  European 
countries  and  it  has  its  champions  in  America,  who  have  been 
seeking,  by  their  propagandism,  to  fasten  it  upon  our  large  cities. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  vital  questions  of  this  era,  and  it  should  be 
the  care  and  responsibility  of  religious  people  everywhere  to  see 
that  as  speedily  as  possible  this  great  shame  shall  be  wiped  away 
from  modern  civilization. 

Let  me  tell  you  an  incident  that  occurred  in  Geneva,  Switzer- 
land, three  or  four  years  ago.  There  jumped  out  of  a four-story 
window  down  to  the  court  below  a beautiful  young  girl.  Mar- 
velously, her  life  was  spared.  A noble  Christian  woman,  whom 
I count  it  a privilege  to  number  among  my  personal  friends,  went 
to  this  poor  girl’s  side  and  got  her  story.  In  substance  it  was 
this : 

She  had  been  sold  for  a price  in  Berlin  to  one  of  the  brothel 
keepers  of  Geneva,  and,  as  his  property,  had  been  imprisoned  in 
that  brothel,  and  was  held  therein  as  a prisoner  and  slave.  She 
endured  it  as  long  as  she  could  and  finally,  as  she  told  this  friend 
of  mine,  “When  I thought  of  God  I could  endure  it  no  longer  and 
I resolved  to  take  the  chances  of  my  life  for  escape,”  and  she 
made  that  fearful  leap,  and  providentially  her  life  was  spared. 
What  must  be  the  nature  of  the  oppression  that  will  thus  drive  its 
victims  to  the  desperate  straits  of  this  young  girl?  It  is  a slavery 
worse  than  the  chattelism,  in  some  of  its  details,  which  formerly 
prevailed  in  our  own  country. 

Now,  what  has  America  to  do  on  this  line?  America  has  a 
fearful  responsibility.  Though  it  may  not  have  the  actual  system 
of  state  regulation,  we  call  ourselves  a Christian  country,  and  yet, 
in  this  beloved  America  of  ours,  in  more  than  one  state,  under 
the  operation  of  the  laws  called  “age  of  consent,”  a young  girl  of 
ten  years  is  held  capable  of  consenting  to  her  own  ruin.  Shame, 
indeed;  it  is  a shame;  a tenfold  shame.  I appeal,  in  passing, 
for  league  and  unity  among  religious  people  for  the  overthrow  of 
this  system  in  European  countries,  and  the  rescue  and  redemption 
of  our  own  land  from  this  gigantic  evil  which  threatens  us  here. 

7 


98 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


I now  pass  to  another  overshadowing  evil,  the  ever  pressing 
drink  evil.  There  was  another  congress  held  here  in  June;  it 
was  to  deal  with  the  vice  of  intemperance.  I had  the  privilege 
of  looking  over  forty  consular  reports  prepared  at  the  request  of 
the  late  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Blaine.  In  every  one  of  these 
reports  intemperance  was  shown  to  be  a producing  cause  of  a 
large  part  of  the  vice,  immorality  and  crime  in  those  countries. 
There  is  need  of  an  alliance  on  the  part  of  religious  people  for 
the  removal  of  this  great  evil  which  stands  in  the  pathway  of 
practical  Christian  progress. 

Now,  another  thought  in  a different  direction.  What  the 
world  greatly  needs  today  in  all  countries  is  greater  simplicity  in 
connection  with  the  religious  life  and  propagandism.  The  Society 
of  Friends,  in  whose  behalf  I appear  before  you,  may  fairly 
claim  to  have  been  teachers  by  example  in  that  direction.  We 
want  to  banish  the  spirit  of  worldliness  from  every  land,  which 
has  taken  possession  of  many  churches,  and  inaugurate  an  era 
of  greater  simplicity. 

The  actual  progress  of  Christianity  in  accordance  with  its 
ideal  may  be  stated,  in  a sentence,  to  be  measured  by  the  posi- 
tion of  women  in  all  lands.  The  Society  of  Friends  furnished 
pioneers  in  the  prisons  of  Old  England  and  of  New  England  in 
the  direction  of  Divinely  inspired  womanhood.  We  believe  there 
is  still  urgent  need  of  an  enlargement  of  this  sphere  to  woman,  and 
we  ought  to  have  it  preached  more  widely  everywhere.  There 
should  be  leagues  and  alliances  to  help  bring  about  this  needed 
change.  The  individual  stands  alone,  unaided,  comparatively 
powerless;  but  in  organization  there  is  great  power,  and  in  the 
fullness  of  the  life  of  the  spirit,  applied  through  organization,  it  is 
possible  to  transform  the  world  for  its  benefit  in  many  directions. 

Someone  has  described  heaven  as  being  simply  a harmonious 
relationship  between  God  and  man.  If  that  be  a true  description 
of  the  heavenly  condition,  we  need  not  wait  till  we  pass  beyond 
the  river  to  experience  something  of  the  uplift  of  the  joy  of  sal- 
vation. Let  us  band  together,  religious  men  and  women  of  all 
names  and  nationalities,  to  bring  about  this  greater  harmony  be- 
tween each  other  and  between  God,  the  Father  of  us  all.  Then, 
finally,  in  all  lands  and  in  every  soul,  to  the  lowliest  as  well  as  the 
highest,  may  this  more  and  more  become  the  joyous  refrain  of 
each,  “Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee;  Nearer  to  Thee.” 


Denominational  Qongress 

Session  of  the  morning  of  9th  mo.,  19th, 

HELD  IN 

THE  NEW  CHURCH  TEMPLE. 


ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME,  - Jonathan  W.  Plummer 

INTRODUCTION  AND  RESPONSE  OF  THE  CHAIRMAN  FOR  THE 
MEETING, John  J.  Cornell,  Baltimore 

A PAPER— “THE  STATE  OF  THE  SOCIETY,”  ETC. 

Mercy  G.  Hammond,  Sterling,  Kansas 
Read  by  Allen  J.  Flitcraft. 

A RESPONSE  TO  THIS  PAPER,  Lavinia  P.  Yeatman,  Norway,  Pa. 

DISCUSSION  OF  THE  PAPERS. 


99 


100 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Address  of  Welcome. 


Jonathan  W.  Plummer. 


IN  this  pleasant  home  of  our  friends  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
church  (of  which  Dr.  L.  P.  Mercer  is  pastor),  who  have  so 
kindly  shown  their  spirit  of  Christian  fellowship  by  granting  its 
use  for  our  denominational  congress,  we  extend  to  you  this  morn- 
ing our  greetings  of  welcome. 

Representatives  of  most  of  the  religious  faiths  of  the  world 
have  gathered  in  this  city  under  the  invitation  of  the  Congress 
Auxiliary  of  the  World’s  Columbian  Exposition,  to  present  to  each 
other  in  friendly  spirit  their  differing  religious  beliefs.  We,  as 
members  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends,  have  met  this 
morning  in  the  opening  session  of  a denominational  congress  to 
consider,  in  the  light  and  under  the  influence  of  this  brotherly 
fellowship,  our  position  among  the  workers  for  the  redemption 
and  salvation  of  man  from  sin  and  its  consequences.  We  wish 
to  look  into  our  condition  and  discover  wherein  we  can  increase 
our  power  to  uphold  the  truths  we  have  seen,  and  gain  acceptance 
for  them  throughout  the  world.  To  discover  what  we  need  to  do 
to  increase  our  practical  knowledge,  through  spiritual  experience, 
of  those  truths  and  to  give  such  life  to  our  faith  as  will  lead  us 
once  more  into  the  world  as  aggressive  advocates  of  that  prin- 
ciple of  religious  life,  which  we  believe  to  be  needed  in  each 
human  heart,  to  secure  daily,  practical  righteousness  and  a daily 
applied  Christianity. 

Our  history  for  the  early  days  of  our  denominational  existence 
is  full  of  aggressive  action  followed  by  large  results  and  rapid 
growth  in  membership. 

We  have  been  pioneers  in  declaring  and  practically  maintain- 
ing what  we  call  testimonies,  growing  out  of  the  impressions 
made  upon  our  minds  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  in  behalf  of  truths 
that  uplift,  or  against  vices  that  depress  man  in  his  best  in- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


IOI 


terests  and  that  increase  or  destroy  his  happiness.  We  have 
been,  and  continue  to  be,  opposed  to  all  oppression;  to  war;  to 
intemperance  and  all  vices  that  destroy  man’s  higher  nature,  and 
advocates  of  liberty  of  conscience,  the  equal  rights  and  duties 
of  women  with  men  in  civil  and  religious  labor,  and  whatever  we 
believe  will  secure  to  each  child  of  God  the  best  chance  to  de- 
velop his  higher  nature  and  become  what  our  Heavenly  Father 
wishes  each  to  be,  an  intelligent,  strong,  pure  being,  dominated 
in  his  actions  by  the  yearning  love  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Our  day,  with  its  clearer  vision  as  to  what  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
requires  in  the  way  of  peace  and  brotherly  love  between  men,  calls 
for  a different  form  and  method  of  work  from  that  of  our  fathers, 
but  not  less  energy;  oftentimes  for  a different  spirit  imour  work, 
but  not  less  consecration. 

We  need  to  feel  in  our  deliberations  here,  and  in  our  daily  life 
always,  that  an  intellectual  assent  to  the  supposed  truth  of  our 
declaration  of  faith  does  not  give  us  its  vision  of  duty,  its  wis- 
dom or  its  power,  unless  it  is  accompanied  by  a genuine  experi- 
ence of  the  divine  impressions  and  impulses  upon  our  souls,  lead- 
ing to  an  earnestness  of  conviction  and  a prayerful  desire  for 
light  and  guidance,  and  for  opportunity  to  realize  for  ourselves, 
and  help  others  to  realize  truly,  the  “glad  tidings”  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ.  This  experience  can  only  come  when  our  hearts  are 
open  to  it,  in  full  integrity  and  earnest  craving. 

As  we  realize  that  now  and  here,  and  for  the  first  time  in  re- 
ligious history,  the  teachers  of  various  religions  of  the  world, 
non-Christian  as  well  as  Christian,  are  assembled  together  in 
friendly  spirit  to  find,  if  possible,  the  same  aspirations,  the  same 
spirit  of  consecration,  and  the  same  desires  for  salvation  from  sin 
and  its  consequent  sufferings,  running  through  all  our  faiths,  en- 
abling us  to  realize  a common  brotherhood  under  the  Fatherhood 
of  the  one  God,  we  must  feel  an  increased  thrill  of  hope  for  the 
coming  of  the  day  when  love  and  righteousness  shall  cover  all 
religions.  Under  this  hope  let  us  feel  a renewed  dedication  of  all 
our  powers,  to  the  hastening  of  its  coming.  Let  us  look  into  the 
condition  of  our  society  with  eyes  willing  to  see  whatever  hinders 
our  growth  and  power,  and  while  excluding  all  careless  criticism 
and  personal  feeling  be  anxious  to  see  the  best  ways  for  present- 
ing our  religious  principles  to  general  view,  and  securing  for  them, 


102 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


among  ourselves  and  others,  an  acceptance  so  far  as  the  witness 
for  truth  in  each  heart  approves.  May  we  not  consider,  among 
other  things,  the  propriety  of  joining  under  proper  conditions 
any,  or  all,  workers  of  any  faith,  in  labor  against  evil  where  we 
cannot  be  more  efficient  alone,  and  not  only  thus  add  power  to 
these  movements  for  the  special  work  in  hand,  but  also  open  the 
hearts  of  all  workers  thus  joined  to  that  Christian  love  which 
allows  truth  to  come  in  from  every  source  and  meet  its  witness  in 
the  soul.  If  we  do  this,  will  we  not  increase  the  force  of  that 
tide  that  is  washing  into  oblivion  the  non-essentials  and  bringing 
into  clearer  view  those  principles  which  are  needed  for  man’s  sal- 
vation from  sin?  Which  will  give  him  the  standard  of  character 
that  Jesus  portrayed? 

Let  us  desire  to  increase  our  numbers — for  the  increased  power 
it  will  give  us  to  work  out  the  problems  that  the  social  conditions 
of  our  day  present  to  us — in  the  interest  of  human  advancement 
and  practical  righteousness  among  men. 

“God  is  Love”  has  long  been  a recorded  truth,  but  today  finds 
the  religious  world  nearer  a realization  of  its  truth,  and  the  con- 
sequent need  of  love  among  men  than  ever  before. 

Under  this  growing  light  we  may  work  more  efficiently  to 
reach  the  Divine  standard  ourselves,  and  help  others  to  reach  it, 
than  we  ever  could  before,  if  we  have  a living  faith  in  the  Divine 
impress  upon  our  individual  souls  and  minds,  equal  to  that  of 
Geo.  Fox,  Wm.  Penn  and  their  co-laborers.  This  Indwelling 
Christ  will  show  the  needed  duty  of  each  person  and  of  each  hour, 
and  impel  us,  as  it  did  them,  to  the  fulfillment  of  every  duty  in 
its  right  time  and  way. 

May  we  in  each  of  our  sessions  strive  for  judgment  unbiased 
by  prejudices,  and  be  willing  and  anxious  to  see  the  truths  that  we 
have  not  before  recognized,  and  to  let  go  the  errors,  if  any,  that 
we  have  thought  to  be  truth  heretofore,  and  all  in  the  integrity 
of  heart  that  asks  only  for  the  right,  the  best,  that  our  hearts  can 
see  in  the  light  that  God  gives  to  each.  Then  shall  our  work  be 
as  good  seed  scattered  widely  in  good  soil,  with  promise  of 
fruitage,  even  to  an  hundredfold. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


103 


The  State  of  the  Society. 


Mercy  G.  Hammond. 

IF  we  accept  the  justice  of  the  record  of  the  historian,  Bancroft, 
and  believe  that  “the  rise  of  the  Society  of  Friends  marks  the 
moment  when  intellectual  freedom  was  claimed  unconditionally  by 
the  people  as  an  inalienable  birthright,”  that  “this  rise  was  the 
consequence  of  the  moral  warfare  against  corruption,  the  aspira- 
tion of  the  human  mind  after  a perfect  emancipation  from  the 
long  reign  of  bigotry  and  superstition,”  can  we  justly  claim  the 
name  of  “Friend”  except  we  diligently  and  reverently  seek  to 
maintain  inviolate  the  vantage  ground  thus  won? 

George  Fox,  “believing  that  he  was  called  of  heaven  to  awaken 
men  from  their  lifeless  forms  and  dogmas  to  a sense  of  the  vital 
importance  of  an  inward,  living,  spiritual  religion,”  was  so  en- 
dowed for  this  call  that,  in  his  own  words,  “The  Lord’s  power 
wrought  mightily  and  gathered  many.”  Some  of  us  may  feel,  as 
we  look  back  through  an  unbroken  line  of  Quaker  ancestry  to 
this  time  of  gathering,  that,  as  an  especial  inheritance,  we  are  en- 
titled to  claim  this  name.  To  these  and  to  all  may  this  council- 
ing  be  an  occasion  of  such  uplift  and  illumination,  that  the  name 
“Friend”  may  have  a more  significant  value  involving  deeper  per- 
sonal responsibility. 

Almost  a generation  has  passed  since  our  revered  and  beloved 
poet  penned  these  stanzas: 

Full  long  our  feet  the  flowery  ways 
Of  peace  have  trod. 

Content  with  creed  and  garb  and  phrase — 

A harder  path  in  earlier  days 
Led  up  to  God. 

Too  cheaply  truths  once  purchased  dear 
Are  made  our  own; 

Too  long  the  world  has  smiled  to  hear 
Our  boast  of  full  corn  in  the  ear 
By  others  sown: 


104 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


To  see  us  stir  the  martyr  fires 
Of  long  ago, 

And  wrap  our  satisfied  desires 
In  the  singed  mantles  that  our  sires 
Have  dropped  below. 

Beyond  sermon  from  gallery  or  pulpit  these  lines  have  stirred 
the  heart  of  a devoted  Friend  during  these  decades  since  “the 
breath  of  war  on  the  sweet  spring  air  ” stimulated  the  soul 
of  Whittier  to  voice  the  thought.  What  heart  searchings  they 
have  prompted  cannot  be  apparent.  That  there  has  been  less 
tendency  to  depend  on  traditional  service  and  a more  free  yield- 
ing of  direct,  personal  effort  does  seem  apparent.  What  thin- 
ning in  the  ranks  of  standard  bearers  have  these  decades  brought. 
Fostering  fathers  and  mothers,  who  gave  to  the  church  service 
such  gracious  presence,  such  ripened  judgment,  such  gift  of 
speech,  such  dedication  of  spirit,  have  one  by  one  passed  away, 
and  our  hearts  have  felt  that  there  must  ever  remain  desolate 
places  where  they  stood.  Men  and  women  in  the  flower  of  men- 
tal and  spiritual  growth  have  been  called,  and  we  have  mourned 
that  for  them  there  should  not  have  been  prolonged  earthly  fru- 
ition. What  wonder  if  with  a sense  of  increased  individual  re- 
sponsibility our  membership  anxiously  queries,  What  of  this  hour? 
Are  we  content  in  flowery  ways  to  accept  a theory  of  truth  with- 
out the  crucial  test  that  baptizes  into  saving  conviction?  Are  we 
Friends  only  in  our  pride  in  a martyr  record  two  centuries  old? 
We  cannot  fail  to  recognize  that  a certain  distinctiveness  of  garb 
and  phrase  has  faded  from  our  gatherings,  that  some  are  held  to 
be  less  vital  than  formerly;  that  some  things  not  in  the  old  rou- 
tine are  accepted.  Are  we  drifting  from  the  essential  spirit  of 
Quakerism?  Are  we  a less  spiritually  minded  people?  Are 
we  less  tenderly  solicitous  that  our  conception  of  moral  and 
Spiritual  Truth  shall  reach  the  Gospel  standard?  Are  we  less 
watchful  that  our  intercourse  with  our  fellows  accords  with  pro- 
fession? Are  we  resting  in  stagnant  waters?  Are  we  drifting 
toward  shoals  of  dogma  on  one  hand  or  of  materialism  on  the 
other,  while  the  religious  world  at  large  more  and  more  recognizes 
an  inward  spiritual  religion? 

The  compass  points  ever  to  the  magnetic  north.  We  do  not 
doubt  but  the  needle  obeys  the  absolute  magnetic  law,  though 
the  record  of  centuries  is  that,  as  relates  to  surroundings,  there  is 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


105 


a steady  variation.  Neither  should  we  doubt  the  immutable 
foundation  of  absolute  Truth,  because  there  need  be  a certain 
relativeness  in  our  expression  of  our  relation  to  Truth.  We 
should  not  be  over  solicitous  about  non-essential  details  if  a 
Christ-like  spirit  is  nurtured  and  sustained.  While  there  remains 
among  us,  as  at  present,  an  abiding  faith  in  the  one  distinctive 
belief  of  Friends,  that  of  the  Divine  Indwelling;  while  the  impor- 
tance of  our  long  accepted  testimonies  is  kept,  as  now,  so  promi- 
nent; while  the  altar  fires  of  worship  burn  as  they  continue  to  do 
in  our  religious  gatherings,  we  may  justly  feel  that  there  is  a 
place  for  us  in  the  denominational  world.  What  the  future  may 
bring  for  us  we  may  not  know,  but  for  a long  time  there  will  be 
those  to  whom  there  will  be  no  church  home  outside  of  our  own. 
To  keep  this  a harbor  of  rest  and  inspiration,  where  the  seeking 
soul  may  find  satisfying  fellowship,  is  worth  dedicated  effort. 
Upon  each  one  holding  a right  of  membership  some  measure  of 
duty  in  sustaining  the  organization  devolves.  We  have  no  right 
to  hold  membership  except  we  accept  the  responsibility  which  a 
church  home  involves. 

Confidence  in  the  foundation  upon  which  our  Society  builds, 
and  in  the  consequent  spiritual  life,  may  well  go  hand  in  hand 
with  searching  humility,  for  remissness  is  indeed  sadly  apparent. 
We  know  that  vigor  has  been  lost  by  inertness.  We  believe  that 
souls  have  gone  from  us  hungering  who  might  have  been  as 
pillars  in  the  church,  but  from  lack  of  that  nurture  which  the 
church  owes  to  its  fold.  Many  have  sought  other  fellowship 
because  none  were  ready  to  give  the  helpful  word  which  should 
have  proved  for  that  soul  the  “food  convenient,”  and  have  made 
the  beautiful  strongholds  of  our  faith  apparent  to  the  understand- 
ing. To  mourn  cannot  atone  for  the  past.  The  present  is  ours. 
A desire  to  rebuild  the  waste  places  seems  to  permeate  the  entire 
Society.  The  opportunity  is  before  us.  Are  we  equal  to  it? 

We  must  accept  the  evidence  that  the  principles  long  felt  to 
be  distinctively  ours  have  found  recognition  among  many  of  the 
spiritually  minded  in  other  churches.  Our  hearts  are  gladdened 
when  the  simplified  story  of  relation  between  the  human  and  the 
Divine,  and  of  duty  between  man  and  man,  as  we  believe  accords 
with  the  Gospel  pattern,  goes  out  to  the  world  from  pulpit  and 
from  press.  This,  to  us  precious  nomenclature,  needs  not  to  be 


10 6 RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 

cited  here.  It  will  doubtless  spring  to  thought  and  lip  during  the 
commingling  of  these  favored  days.  How  much  of  the  yielding 
of  faith  in  ritual  and  dogma  may  justly  be  attributed  to  currents 
set  in  motion  by  Fox  and  his  coadjutors,  how  much  to  the  direct 
inspiration  of  these  pregnant  days  it  matters  not  to  consider.  It 
is  wholesome  for  us  to  gratefully  recognize  Truth,  come  whence 
it  may,  while  we  loyally  rejoice  in  the  privilege  of  our  own  sim- 
ple form  of  worship,  and  in  our  emancipation  from  the  hindrances 
of  creed  and  ritual. 

While  it  may  more  properly  be  the  province  of  this  paper  to 
open  the  way  for  discussion  than  to  give  suggestion,  yet  an  ex- 
pression of  conviction  may,  perhaps,  be  accepted  in  the  spirit  in 
which  it  is  given.  Many  of  us  have  counciled  together  in  the 
past,  and  drawn  therefrom  renewal  of  purpose. 

The  power  of  an  inspired  ministry  to  spread  a knowledge  of 
Friends’  principles  has  been  accepted  since  the  ministry  of  George 
Fox  gathered  many.  The  “foolishness  of  preaching”  remains  an 
appointed  means  for  spiritual  quickening.  Except  we  give  to  this 
service  steady  sympathy  and  support,  the  vigor  of  the  whole  body 
must  wane.  Open  the  way  for  the  gift  of  the  Gospel  ministry  to 
reach  those  who  may  have  ears  to  hear  the  glad  tidings  we 
believe  to  be  so  precious,  and  we  set  in  motion  a fruitful 
sowing. 

If  the  true  Friend  has  an  appropriate  place  in  the  world’s 
work,  it  is  surely  in  the  sweet  ministry  of  philanthropy.  Every 
service  becomes  an  object  lesson  among  men,  if  simply  done  as 
becomes  our  profession,  without  obtruding  our  Friendly  ideas, 
except  when  withholding  them  involves  sacrifice  of  conviction. 
In  the  measure  in  which  we  can  consistently  and  effectively 
reach  to  redress  wrong  or  to  ameliorate  suffering,  in  that  beautiful 
dignity  becoming  the  Friend  and  Christian,  we  shall  surely  foster 
the  growth  and  spread  of  our  principles.  Without  the  force  of  the 
two  bulwarks,  a faithful  ministry  and  a philanthropic  exemplifica- 
tion of  our  cherished  testimonies,  we  cannot  hope  to  enlist  and 
hold  our  youth,  and  this  is  our  only  hope  for  the  future.  If  we 
have  reached  the  stature  of  compassing  for  them  a rightly 
guarded  education,  the  problem  of  our  future  and  the  spread  of 
our  principles  is  solved.  How  we  rejoice  in  the  power  of  a Barclay 
and  a Penn.  The  power  of  neither  could  have  been  so  far  reach- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


107 


ing,  had  not  intellectual  discipline  joined  forces  with  spiritual 
illumination.  All  honor  to  those  of  today  who  are  striving  to 
gather  about  our  schools  an  atmosphere  in  which  the  finest  forces 
of  the  soul  may  instinctively  expand.  The  home  and  the  school 
are  determining  forces  against  which  the  church  can  illy  cope,  if  in 
them  are  tendencies  to  blunt  what  the  church  would  cherish.  Give 
to  the  young  that  discriminating  culture  that  discerns  the  fineness 
in  simplicity,  and  the  spirit  of  our  testimony  in  favor  of  plainness 
of  speech,  deportment  and  apparel  can  be  readily  apprehended. 
Give  the  finest  sense  of  justice  and  honor,  and  other  testimonies 
will  be  readily  recognized.  Give  an  adequate  conception  of  the 
value  of  human  life,  and  the  horror  of  war  overshadows  its  grandeur. 
In  short,  give  a wholesome  soul  training  to  the  youth,  who  hold 
a birthright  with  us,  and  a tremendous  force  is  set  in  motion — 
centrifugal  to  scatter  our  principles — centripetal  to  gather  to  us. 

As  long  as  we  do  not  in  our  efforts  go  before  the  witness, 
tread  not  on  ground  not  hallowed  for  our  feet,  we  can  fearlessly 
push  on.  Tender  regard  for  established  usage  and  for  the  con- 
victions of  others  will  regulate  diversity  of  thought.  A soul 
strong  for  truth  and  right  has  said,  “Our  business  is  not  to  sail  as 
near  the  wind  of  what  is  popular  as  we  can,  but  in  a brave,  manly 
way  to  keep  our  vessel’s  head  toward  the  port  of  everlasting 
Truth,  though  the  world  should  think  us  sailing  to  destruction.’’ 


io8 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


The  State  of  Our  Society. 


Response  by  Lavinia  P.  Yeatman. 


E have  listened  with  the  confidence  of  perfect  unity  to  the 


V V thoughtful  consideration  of  our  Society,  its  hopes  in  the 
past,  its  needs  in  the  future,  that  our  sister  has  set  before  us. 

That  our  Society  is  not  a thing  of  the  past;  that  it  is  to  be  a 
church  of  the  future  we  earnestly  believe,  for  its  principle  reflects 
the  purity  of  that  early  world,  when  the  morning  stars  sang  to- 
gether, rejoicing  that  Life  was  born. 

She  has  given  us  an  onward  view  of  our  church  that  we  must 
sustain.  Shall  I present  some  points  in  the  past  which  have  hin- 
dered its  full  development,  and  which  may  stand  as  warning 
points  of  avoidance  for  the  future? 

To  unlock  the  thoughts  of  former  years,  to  uncover  results  as 
they  followed,  is  a task  full  of  instruction;  and  the  state  of  our 
Society,  in  the  early  years  of  this,  our  century,  has  been  so  unlike 
the  active  attitude  of  its  first  works,  that  it  challenges  our  atten- 
tion. And  yet,  this  century  of  ours  has  been  one  of  grand  devel- 
opment. Really,  so  much  darkness  has  passed  away  before  the 
clearer  light  that  moves  and  palpitates  through  the  coming  time, 
that  we  must  stand  and  wonder  at  the  change  one  lifetime  of 
years  has  produced.  When  it  opened  over  our  Society,  both  here 
and  in  England,  there  laid  a lethargy  which  drew  a lingering 
sweetness  from  a passive  introspection.  It  was  very  foreign  to 
the  sturdy  stock  of  which  we  came;  but,  nevertheless,  it  shadowed 
our  fuller  life. 

Then  came  the  cradle  growth  of  American  literature,  born  of 
Puritan  ancestry,  let  us  acknowledge,  but  its  rich  light  thrilled 
the  young  hearts  even  in  our  well  guarded  fold.  Then  came  that 
dark  sweep  of  German  mysticism,  holding  the  educated  world  by 
an  almost  magical  touch  as  it  appealed  to  the  reasoning  faculties 
of  man  with  its  grand  scholastic  power.  And  Faith  trembled, 
waiting  till  the  cloud  should  pass. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


109 


Then  came  the  after  reaction,  when  spiritual  life  bounded 
from  the  woven  trammels  of  unbelief,  and  sought  to  build  anew 
the  pathways  to  the  church  of  Christ. 

May  we  not  ask  what  part  in  that  reaction  did  the  clear  full 
testimonies  of  our  Society  hold?  Has  not  our  freely  sustained 
faith  in  the  “Inner  Light”  molded  more  than  its  followers  know? 
No  interval  of  time  that  history  records,  not  even  the  burst  of  the 
rennaissance  which  shook  the  Catholic  world  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  can  compare  with  the  advancement  of  Light,  of  Christian 
work,  of  hopeful  consequences,  as  this  era  of  ours  has  done. 

And  so  “we,  the  people  called  Quakers,”  can  rest  on  our 
broad  foundation  stone  and  watch  the  passing  hour. 

We  see  the  principle  we  hold,  the  testimonies  we  have  sus- 
tained, have  gradually  arrested  the  higher  thoughts  of  men. 

Our  small,  sweet  doctrine,  “Mind  the  Light,”  found  by  an  un- 
taught peasant  lad  amid  the  jewels  of  the  words  of  Christ,  and 
kept  in  the  silent  depths  of  his  own  soul  till  thought,  and  prayer, 
and  tribulation  had  polished  its  full  perfection,  is  now  an  ac- 
cepted belief,  a central  point  in  Protestant  churches.  We  see  the 
intense  spiritual  labor  of  our  forefathers  a subject  of  honored 
study  in  devout  minds.  And  when  we  are  asked,  “Why  have  not 
Friends  built  a visible  church,  and  worked  for  wider  results?” 
We  query,  “Is  not  the  soul  of  man  His  church?”  “Are  we  not 
working  there?”  Still,  history  tells  us  that  George  Fox’s  ideal 
was  to  establish  a working  church,  which  should  present  a power- 
ful front  in  the  future  service  of  humanity.  He  gathered  the  en- 
lightened minds  of  that  Bible-studying  age  by  one  annointing 
question,  “Dost  thou  believe  on  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God?” 
This  was  the  talisman  of  entry  into  the  works  of  early  Friends, 
into  the  church  of  George  Fox,  so  simple  and  so  deep. 

Yet  the  weight  of  a singular  destiny  seems  to  have  rested  on 
George’s  ideal.  His  gift  of  organization  was  clear  and  practical 
as  all  his  movements  show.  His  method  of  confirming  his  minis- 
try was  itself  an  inspiration.  So  was  that  system  of  lay  preach- 
ing which  he  developed,  and  made  an  arm  of  mighty  strength  in 
his  work.  Yet  these  were  lost  in  that  lull  which  followed  the  ad- 
vent of  the  seekers,  or  followers  of  Lady  Guion  among  us.  These 
introduced  a dreamy  tone  of  passive  resignation  that  was  suited 
only  to  monastic  life  or  the  helpless  hopelessness  of  convent 


10 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


seclusion.  But  it  fitted,  perhaps,  with  a desire  for  greater  rest 
among  a long  tried  and  suffering  people,  and  it  found  acceptance. 
But  from  this  time  an  inert  spirit  is  clearly  seen  developing  in  the 
church  of  our  fathers.  A lethargy  grew  down  the  years,  and 
lay  on  the  inward  life  of  our  people,  and  culminated  in  the  sepa- 
ration of  1828.  We  can  clearly  see  now  that  had  the  Spirit  of 
the  Christ  ruled  the  exigencies  of  that  time,  had  the  clear  spir- 
ituality of  our  fathers  been  with  us,  that  separation  would  never 
have  occurred.  For  there  was  no  new  doctrine  taught.  It  was 
only  a clearing  away  of  the  theologic  fungi  which  had  grown 
upon  our  structure.  That  George  Fox  did  not  live  before  his 
time  is  evidenced  in  the  wide,  unconscious  acceptance  of  his  views 
by  the  religious  minds  of  his  day.  He,  perhaps,  anticipated  a 
Light  that  was  sure  to  come,  for  the  world  has  always  been  ready 
for  the  hope  that  lies  in  the  promises  of  Jesus.  Our  fathers  bore 
the  suffering  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  His  followers,  and  their  strug- 
gle was  a triumph  for  suffering  humanity. 

A wide  lessening  of  numbers  has  been  with  us.  Emigration 
and  disownments  have  scattered  our  members,  and  the  spirit 
of  the  seekers  engrafted  on  us  has  disapproved  of  proselyting. 
Yet,  our  testimonies  have  been  largely  kept  wherever  a member 
has  set  the  lone  altar  of  his  home,  and  we  are  gladdened  as  the 
cry  for  remembrance  oftentimes  comes  back  from  distant  points 
to  the  parent  church.  Therefore,  we  ask,  is  not  the  church  of 
our  fathers  spreading  its  light  through  coming  years,  and  soft- 
ening the  hard  shell  of  human  judgment  over  things  spiritual 
and  easy  to  be  understood? 

It  is  not  for  us  to  lay  aside  the  panoply  of  earlier  convic- 
tions, as  we  fold  around  us  the  beautiful  garments  of  our  spiritual 
awakening.  As  we  hold  to  our  ways  of  simplicity  we  may  yet 
fulfill  the  words  of  Admiral  Penn:  “As  you  keep  to  your  plain 
ways  of  living,  you  may  yet  reform  the  world.” 

This  point  of  simplicity  we  do  hold  in  loving  reverence,  for 
grand  and  clear  is  that  mind  which  turns  from  trifling  ornament 
to  the  pearl  of  price  within  them.  We  are  asked  in  the  paper 
to  which  we  have  just  listened:  Are  we  less  spiritual?  More 
worldly? 

I would  answer,  no!  Our  spirituality  moves  now  through 
peaceful  paths,  and  joins  in  ways  of  doing  good  in  silent  con- 
secration. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS.  Ill 

I look  upon  the  future  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  as  it  opens 
now,  as  a gathering  together  for  first  works.  Back  to  our  dear 
spirituality;  onward  with  our  high  moral  standing;  upward  with 
our  noble  system  of  educating  our  youth,  unawed  and  unchecked 
by  the  deviations  of  mankind.  We  have  a destiny  yet  to  fulfill. 
The  clear  believers  in  the  words  and  works  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
have  much  to  do,  and  nothing  is  dearer  to  the  heart  of  our 
people  than  this  prophetic  confidence.  Clear  of  superstitious 
dimness,  weighing  all  by  the  gentle  force  of  “the  Light  Within,” 
let  us  go  on  our  way.  We  see  a noble  band  of  teachers  going  in 
and  out  among  our  youth,  we  see  our  glad  young  children  born 
with  an  inward  purity  so  singularly  impressive,  that  I always 
feel  it  a blessing  sent  down  with  Quaker  parentage.  And  as 
we  cordially  unite  with  the  great  throbbing  heart  of  humanity  in 
the  works  of  good,  let  us  still  keep  our  testimonies,  and  in  the  far 
glad  future  seal  with  a great  seal  the  bond  of  our  adoption. 


12 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


A Synopsis  of  the  Discussion  Upon  the 
Preceding  Papers. 

LLEN  FLITCRAFT,  Pennsylvania,  spoke  of  the  demand  of 


J~\  the  home,  the  school  and  the  church  upon  our  care.  Of 
these  the  home  stands  first  in  importance  and  influence  in  mold- 
ing the  youthful  mind.  If  this  teaching  be  right,  all  else  will  be 
well,  and  we  shall  be  a happy  and  prosperous  people.  It  is  here 
the  mother  exerts  her  power,  and  we  cannot  overestimate  its 
value.  The  school  stands  next,  having  a very  close  claim  upon 
our  concern.  And  if  the  right  influence  of  the  home  be  followed 
by  a guarded  training  in  the  schools  of  the  mental  and  moral  fac- 
ulties, we  may  be  sure  the  meeting  will  find  living,  concerned 
supporters. 

Edward  Coale,  Illinois.  The  home  and  the  school  are  not  the 
only  forces  needed  in  the  work  of  giving  new  life  to  our  meetings. 
We  are  suffering  from  a lack  of  consecrated  and  concentrated 
effort.  We  know  the  condition  of  our  meetings — how  they  are 
languishing  from  a need  of  this  combined  influence.  I see  groups 
of  fifty  people  in  this  gathering  able  to  go  into  the  weak  meetings, 
and  by  their  united  labors  build  up  a new  and  living  church.  Nor 
is  it  that  we  lack  the  time;  the  desire  and  willingness  to  conse- 
crate ourselves  to  the  work  are  wanting.  Knowing  as  we  do  the 
condition  and  the  need,  now  is  the  time  to  enlist  the  interest  and 
consecration  of  our  boys  and  girls.  It  may  soon  be  too  late. 

A.  M.  Powell,  New  York.  I rise  only  to  commend  both  of  the 
papers  read.  The  first  was  singularly  happy  in  its  reference  to  the 
past  and  its  hopefulness  for  the  future.  May  this  congress  bring 
out  the  younger  members  who  are  with  us.  It  is  the  first  great 
occasion  on  which  we  have  stepped  out  of  our  accustomed  path 
into  a new  and  promising  field. 

Matilda  Underwood,  Indiana,  referred  to  the  feeling  manner 
with  which  our  hearts  had  been  touched  in  considering  the  needs  of 
our  Society.  She  spoke  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  the  greatest 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


”3 

need.  George  Fox  calls  upon  us  to  till  the  fallow  ground,  that 
the  seed  may  prosper.  We  must  be  up  and  doing  for  “Behold 
the  fields  are  white  unto  harvest  and  the  laborers  are  few.”  This 
work  and  influence  of  the  Christian  mothers  and  fathers  depends 
on  the  consecration  of  the  heart. 

Joseph  Hartley,  Ohio.  Consecration  of  the  heart  meets  the 
witness  for  Truth  within.  It  is  a personal  matter.  When  indi- 
vidually we  have  this  baptism  then  we  realize  the  truth  that 
“Seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  heaven  all  these  things  will  be 
added.”  This  is  a most  excellent  and  practical  lesson,  and  when 
fully  in  possession  of  the  heart  we  are  ready  and  willing  to  labor. 
The  school  cannot  give  us  this  power  and  consecration.  It  is 
revealed  unto  babes.  Let  us  have  all  regard  for  the  children  of 
our  Society. 

Lydia  H.  Price,  Pennsylvania.  Consecration  is  the  one  great  and 
needful  thing,  leading  us  up  to  a practice  of  the  “golden  rule,”  to 
think  no  evil.  We  realize  the  weakness  there  is  among  us.  We 
cannot  estimate  the  losses  we  have  sustained.  They  have  been 
not  alone  from  disownment.  We  have  lost  membership  through 
marriage  Those  who  might  have  come  to  us,  if  open  arms  had 
been  extended,  have  not  only  been  lost,  but  have  taken  others 
away.  Again,  how  pained  I have  been  at  the  expressions  of 
lament  in  our  business  meetings  over  our  deficiences.  To  dwell 
upon  these  is  not  the  way.  We  should  indeed  look  well  into  our 
own  hearts  and  see  how  we  feel  toward  all  the  world.  If  there 
were  an  overflow  of  God’s  love,  would  it  not  draw  us  together  in 
brotherly  kindness. 

Edw.  H.  Magill,  Pennsylvania,  said  it  was  not  a pleasant  thing  to 
discuss  our  faults,  but  we  are  here  to  query,  and  we  must  not  ignore 
them.  I was  impressed  with  the  remark  of  the  first  paper  on  the 
relation  of  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces.  We  have  lacked 
the  influence  of  both  in  our  history  as  a people.  I have  sometimes 
wondered  that  our  Society  has  held  together  even  as  it  has  with 
this  lack  of  forces  so  essential.  In  the  Friendly  communities  in 
which  I have  lived,  there  have  been  more  who  have  felt  the  effects 
of  the  scattering  process  than  there  have  been  actual  members. 
We  do  not  need  to  dismiss  all  offenders.  James  Freeman  Clarke 
once  said:  “A  church  had  no  life  in  it  except  it  had  some  sin- 
ners.” 

8 


1 14  RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 

Anna  M.  Jackson,  New  York,  raised,  in  a few  remarks, 
the  question  whether  we  had  a right  to  disown  members  who 
came  into  the  Society  through  birthright  privileges. 

Isaac  Wilson,  Canada,  was  impressed  early  in  the  meeting,  he 
said,  with  feelings  he  must  give  voice  to.  He  would  acknowl- 
edge his  gratitude  to  those  who  have  brought  us  here  to  enjoy  a 
privilege  never  before  known — attendance  upon  a great  parlia- 
ment of  religions.  The  outcome  of  it  can  only  be  a greater  inter- 
est in  society,  an  increased  love  of  humanity,  a higher  respect  for 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  We  need  this  greater  love  of  man  even 
though  it  may  carry  us  out  to  the  work  of  proselyting.  And 
while  to  build  up  the  waste  places  is  the  duty  of  the  hour, 
I am  not  overanxious.  We  have  only  on  our  part  to  be  ready 
to  say,  “Lord,  here  am  I,”  when  the  field  is  ready.! 

Isaac  Roberts,  Pennsylvania,  said  he  agreed  with  the  remarks 
of  a previous  speaker,  that  the  young  people  should  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  be  heard,  and  as  one  standing  between  the  old  and  the 
young  he  would  like  to  extend  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  them. 
With  reference.to  the  state  of  the  Society  there  seemed  to  be  danger 
of  dwelling  too  much  on  the  dark  side  of  the  question.  We  should 
turn  our  faces  to  the  light  and  see  the  grounds  of  hope  and  con- 
fidence now  apparent.  The  work  for  the  young  in  the  First  Day 
school,  the  formation  of  associations  among  the  young,  and  the  at- 
tendance of  many  young  people  here  were  all  hopeful  and  prom- 
.sing  facts.  The  consecration  that  should  be  desired,  should  be 
that  which  would  prepare  not  only  for  the  ministry  of  the  Spoken 
Word,  but  that  of  the  daily  life,  for  without  earnest  and  consistent 
Christian  living,  the  ministry  of  the  Spoken  Word  itself  would  be 
of  no  avail. 

John  W.  Onderdonk,  New  York,  expressed  his  approval  of  the 
young  speaking,  and  pointed  out  the  need  of  the  older  ones  to 
learn.  We  share  alike  the  seed  and  have  a common  duty  in 
nourishing  it,  remembering  that  for  all  there  comes  “First  the 
seed,  then  the  blade  and  then  the  full  ear.” 

Robt.  S.  Haviland,  New  York.  It  is  said  that  out  of  the  fullness 
of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh.  Sometimes  the  contrary  seems 
true.  I feel  thus  this  morning.  I confess  with  a full  heart  the 
value  of  the  papers  and  the  power  of  the  occasion.  I look  grate- 
fully upon  the  past  and  believe  we  have  an  opportunity  still 
before  us. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


I 15 

Elias  Underhill,  New  York,  was  reminded  of  the  old  adage 
that  while  there  is  life  there  is  hope.  * I am  indeed  encour- 
aged this  morning.  Those  are  wise  who  speak  in  fraternal  ac- 
cord— not  finding  occasion  of  fault,  looking  earnestly  not  alone 
to  the  home,  or  the  school,  but  to  all  the  forces  centrifugal  and 
^centripetal.  I am  reminded  of  the  child  who  asked  her  grand- 
mother why  she  did  not  thank  God  so  that  she,  also,  could  hear;  so 
much  do  we  need  the  outspoken,  heartfelt  actions. 

Fannie  Lownes,  Nebraska,  felt  she  was  not  young  though 
young  in  the  meeting.  In  the  west  we  are  widely  scattered;  we 
have  no  ministry.  We  have  had  to  look  directly  to  the  source  of 
all  power  and  goodness. 

Lydia  H.  Hall,  Pennsylvania,  reminded  us  that  we  had  need  to 
cultivate  our  intellects  that  we  may  the  better  tell  our  thoughts 
and  aspirations,  as  they  spring  up  in  the  heart  truly  consecrated. 

Hannah  A.  Plummer,  Illinois,  spoke  in  confirmation  of  the  ap- 
peal of  Lydia  H.  Hall.  We  cannot  meet  the  world  unless  we  have 
both  the  thought  and  the  power  to  express  ourselves  intelligently 
and  forcibly.  She  was  convinced  we  have  kept  too  much  out  of 
the  world. 

Benj.  F.  Nichols,  Iowa,  was  deeply  interested  in  this  con- 
gress and  rejoiced  at  the  Light  set  forth.  And  while  he  could 
rejoice  for  the  joy  offered  for  the  gray  hairs,  he  was  anxious  for 
the  young.  My  concern  is  not  simply  for  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Society;  there  is  a higher  thought — a longing  that  Truth  may  pre- 
vail whatever  and  on  what  occasion  may  be  the  assembly. 

Susan  Lippincott,  New  Jersey,  spoke  briefly  of  the  need  of  a 
proper  cultivation  of  the  voice,  as  well  as  of  the  intellect.  What- 
ever has  been  well  learned  deserves  to  be  told  in  the  most  forcible 
manner. 

Jona  K.  Taylor,  Maryland,  would  plead  for  a general  education, 
for  the  right  development  of  all  the  powers  of  the  mind.  He  would 
plead  for  this  that  we  may  be  able  to  do  our  full  duty.  A well 
balanced  mind  is  the  lamp  by  which  our  feet  are  to  be  rightly 
guided. 

Samuel  P.  Zavitz,  Ontario,  spoke  of  his  deep  interest  in  the 
papers.  They  introduce  an  important  thought,  the  continuance 
of  our  Society.  Our  home  training  he  believed  had  been  good. 
We  have  failed  as  a Society  to  work  for  the  good  of  the  body. 


Il6  RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 

Numbers  are  not  alone  strength.  We  must  look  to  the  True  Light 
that  we  may  grow  in  power.  Expressing  his  deep  interest  in  the 
young  Friends,  he  called  upon  them  to  return  to  their  homes  with 
renewed  hope  and  determination. 

Allen  J.  Flitcraft,  Illinois,  though  rising  to  call  upon  Ellwood 
Trueblood  as  one  experienced  with  the  young,  referred  to  the 
present  opportunity  as  the  grandest  and  broadest  ever  offered  for 
inspiration  in  our  work.  As  in  our  cultivated  fields,  careful  and 
constant  tilling  of  the  soil  in  times  of  drouth  becomes  a sustain- 
ing power;  so  in  our  decline,  the  operation  of  a living  concern 
that  proves  itself  in  earnest  work  may  check  a downward  ten- 
dency. 

Ellwood  Trueblood,  Indiana,  said  that  it  seemed  to  him  that 
one  of  the  needs  of  the  Society  was  an  educated  and  consecrated 
ministry,  a ministry  not  only  sweetened  by  the  influence  of  love 
and  mercy,  but  a ministry  in  full  accord  with  the  times.  Some- 
times we  are  too  careful  of  getting  down  to  the  pale  of  humanity. 
Let  us  be  willing  to  come  down  to  the  level  of  the  young  and  to 
work  with  them. 

Charlotte  W.  Cocks,  New  York,  declared  that  all  that  is  es- 
sential comes  from  the  heart  and  not  the  intellect.  We  can  come 
into  this  higher  power,  if  we  are  truly  humble  and  faithful. 


Denominational  Congress 


ART  PALACE,  Hall  No.  7. 


9th  mo.,  20th. 


Chairman  for  the  Session,  - - Joseph  A.  Bogardus,  New  York 


PAPER— “OUR  YOUNG  FRIENDS,” 

Edgar  M.  Zavitz,  Coldstream,  Ontario 


RESPONSE  TO  THE  PAPER,  - Isaac  Roberts,  Conshohocken,  Pa. 

DISCUSSION  OF  THE  PAPERS. 


117 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


1 1 8 


Our  Young  Members 


THE  DUTY  OF  THE  SOCIETY  IN  GUIDING  THEM  TO  A CONCEP- 
TION OF  THEIR  RESPONSIBILITIES  IN  MATURER  YEARS. 
THEIR  SOCIAL  NEEDS  AND  OPPORTUNITIES  AS  MEMBERS. 
WOULD  A NATIONAL  ORGANIZATION  BE  AN  AID  IN  PRO- 
MOTING THEIR  INTERESTS? 


By  Edgar  M.  Zavitz,  Coldstream,  Ontario,  Canada. 


U S man  was  not  made  for  the  Sabbath,  but  the  Sabbath  for 


man,”  so  let  us  ever  bear  in  mind  that  God’s  purpose  in 


religious  organizations  is  to  benefit  the  members.  Society  is  not 
an  end,  but  only  a means  to  an  end.  It  should  ever  be  looked 
upon  as  a means  to  promote  righteousness  among  men — a God- 
appointed  means.  In  dealing  with  our  subject,  then,  we  have  to 
concern  ourselves  with  three  distinct  parties,  the  youth,  the 
Society,  and  God. 

The  task  appointed  us,  then,  is  that  of  discovering  the  duty 
of  our  Society  to  its  young  members;  the  agencies  to  be  em- 
ployed; the  motive  power  to  accomplish  the  desired  results.  Of 
course,  God  Omnipotent  will  furnish  the  power,  but  by  what  more 
definite  name  shall  we  know  it?  What  other  than  by  the  title  of 
love?  There  is  more  power  in  love  than  we  know.  We  need 
not  fear;  it  is  worthy  of  our  entire  trust.  It  is  as  broad  and  deep, 
and  high  as  God  Himself,  for  “God  is  love.”  Now  it  remains  to 
find  out  how  this  motive  power  is  to  be  applied  by  our  agencies. 
On  the  one  hand  God  needs  no  tutoring.  He  is  All-wise,  and  All- 
willing,  as  well  as  All-powerful.  We  can  rest  assured  that  He 
will  do  His  part.  The  youth,  on  the  other  hand,  being  active  and 
receptive,  need  the  Society’s  earnest,  effective  encouragement  to 
use  their  opportunities  for  doing  their  part  of  a grand  work. 

Having  established  the  relationship  between  the  different 
parties,  and  having  found  the  motive  power  to  be  used,  the  cen- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


IIQ 


tral  question,  the  duty  of  our  Society  to  its  younger  members  is 
simplified,  and  can  the  more  logically  and  intelligently  be  treated. 

Society  is  an  aggregate  of  individuals  who  are  individually  re- 
sponsible for  whatever  is  legitimately  done  in  its  name.  It,  there- 
fore, becomes  the  duty  of  individuals  to  look  after  the  best  inter- 
ests and  promote  the  highest  welfare  of  society  in  order  that 
society  may  return  the  greatest  benefits  to  individuals  again,  to 
those  who  need  help,  especially  to  the  youth.  It  is  a spiritual  com- 
munity. All  give  according  to  their  ability;  all  receive  accord- 
ing to  their  need.  This  benefit  is  the  love  that  can  flow  from 
mind  to  mind,  from  soul  to  soul.  There  is  a spirit  world  in  this 
life;  it  surrounds  us  and  fills  us.  In  it  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being,  our  true  being,  our  soul’s  life.  This  spirit  world,  this 
necessary  and  natural  environment  of  the  soul  is  God.  Through 
this  subtle  medium  mind  has  power  to  influence  mind,  soul  to  in- 
fluence soul.  Men  can,  therefore,  mutually  benefit  each  other, 
and  in  this  fact  is  found  the  reason  and  duty  of  the  “assembling 
of  ourselves  together.”  The  recognition  of  the  spiritual  in  us, 
and  around  us,  is  what  gives  to  -Friends  meeting  its  distinctive 
characteristic.  It  depends  not  on  outward  ordinances  or  the  vocal 
word.  From  this  view,  peculiar  to  us  as  a Society,  we  would  nat- 
urally and  necessarily  use  somewhat  different  means  in  gaining 
the  interest  of  our  youth  from  those  employed  by  other  denomi- 
nations. We  firmly  believe  that  love  is  the  one  great  power  that 
alone  can  influence  for  good  our  fellow  mortals.  In  what  ways 
then  may  love  profitably  manifest  itself  to  accomplish  the  end 
sought  after?  It  is  necessary  that  we  first  love  God  with  heart, 
soul  and  might.  God  means  good,  and  if  we  do  not  love  good 
we  cannot  become  good  and,  therefore,  cannot  do  good.  The. 
character  of  the  soul  determines  the  character  of  the  action.  It 
follows  as  naturally  as  effect  follows  cause.  Then  our  first  duty 
is  to  look  individually  to  the  purifying  of  our  own  souls.  With- 
out that,  all  exertion,  howsoever  great,  must  be  futile. 

Next,  as  individuals,  we  must  love  our  Society,  we  must  from 
our  hearts  desire  its  present  good  and  its  future  prosperity. 
Blessed  by  the  inheritance  of  its  benefits  we  should  pass  it  on 
endowed  with  great  power  to  bless.  This  we  cannot  do  through 
any  selfish  desire,  such  as  to  glory  merely  in  numbers,  or  to 
adhere  to  it  for  self-aggrandizement,  or  because  we  happen  to  be 


120 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


birthright  members  in  it.  If  we  shall  advance  it,  we  must  love  it 
for  the  good  that  it  can  do,  not  simply  to  ourselves,  but  to  all  its 
members  and  the  world  outside.  It  has  had  a glorious  mission 
and  has  performed  it  gloriously;  it  is  as  necessary  in  the  world 
today  as  ever  it  was,  and  its  future  course  can  be  as  brilliant  as 
its  past.  Let  us  not  be  satisfied  to  rest  on  the  attainments  of  our 
fathers,  or  to  bask  in  ancestral  glory.  That  soul  is  dark  that 
shines  with  borrowed  light.  We  must  not  esteem  our  Society 
merely  for  the  good  it  has  done,  but  for  the  good  it  may  do; 
looking  to  the  past  for  experience  and  enthusiasm;  to  the  future 
for  work  and  duty.  The  light  that  shone  on  them  is  spent,  but 
the  light  that  will  enlighten  us  must  come  directly  from  the  liv- 
ing source.  Open  thy  soul  Godward  and  the  light  will  flow  in 
that  will  discover  to  thee  thy  duty  toward  society,  toward  the 
youth  and  in  every  other  matter.  No  person  can  know  or  can 
tell  what  all  the  special  duties  to  our  young  members  may  be  that 
the  Spirit  will  prompt  in  individual  hearts;  we  can  but  indicate 
some  of  the  more  general  ones. 

We  might  have  shortened  our  paper  by  saying  love,  love;  for 
Divine  love  is  the  essence  of  everything  good.  Yet  we  feel 
that  something  more  is  required  at  our  hands.  You  desire  us  to 
be  more  explicit  as  to  how  this  love  is  to  manifest  itself. 

Love  begets  a sense  of  equality,  and  our  society  acknowledges 
that  all  men  are  born  equal.  Instead  of  always  observing  this 
principle,  and  also  the  command  to  judge  not  in  a sense  of  cen- 
suring, and  condemn  not,  the  meetings  sometimes  assume  the 
position  of  censors  over  the  younger  members,  and  pass  judg- 
ments that  are  not  altogether  sweetened  by  the  quality  of  love. 
The  younger  ones,  quick  to  discern  this  inconsistency,  grow  luke- 
warm and  estranged  from  the  Society.  Our  Society  has  lost 
many  a promising  genius  and  many  a brilliant  talent  because 
some  already  enjoying  the  popular  favor  could  brook  no  equal. 
But  if  we  have  that  love  that  desires  the  best  for  each  and  all, 
that  can  fellowship  with  rivals,  and  forgive  enemies,  instead  of 
driving  from  our  ranks  the  bright  minds  and  promising  talents, 
we  would  help  them  to  discover  the  sphere  in  society  and  the 
world  that  God  designed  them  for,  and  is  fitting  them  to  fill. 

Again,  the  meetings  fail  in  their  duty  toward  our  young  mem- 
bers by  not  being  broad  enough  to  recognize  the  diversity  of 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


21 


gifts.  This  is  not  so  great  a crime  as  the  last;  it  is  rather  a sin  of 
ignorance,  but  nevertheless  it  has  been  fruitful  of  disaster  to  our 
Society.  The  broader  culture  of  today  is  helping  us  to  correct 
this  error,  but  it  still  needs  our  attention  and  thought.  Give  all 
liberty  to  follow  out  the  bent  of  their  genius,  for  if  we  attempt  to 
tutor  genius  beware  lest  we  be  found  tutoring  God.  Each  stands 
responsible  to  God  alone  for  the  fulfillment  of  life’s  work.  The 
Society  should  be  made  broad  enough  for  the  legitimate  exercise 
of  every  God-given  power. 

It  should  not  be  tenacious  about  non-essentials.  Our  Society 
is  peculiarly  blessed  in  that  it  is  not  bound  together  by  creeds  or 
confessions  of  faith.  The  cementing  bond  with  us  is  love.  To 
be  one  in  spirit  is  a greater  safeguard  to  harmony  than  subscrib- 
ing to  a long  catalogue  of  articles  of  faith.  If  there  be  one  spirit, 
and  that  one  of  love,  all  the  conflicting  opinions  about  the  Divin- 
ity of  Christ,  miracles,  or  any  other  subject  of  contention,  will  not 
cause  a ripple  on  the  surface  of  the  Society. 

One  of  the  great  secrets  in  maintaining  sympathy  and  fellow- 
ship with  the  young,  and  with  the  older  as  well,  is  found  in  the 
cultivation  of  a spirit  of  forgiveness.  It  is  said  that  youth  is  way- 
ward. Experience  has  not  yet  taught  it  all  the  forbidden  paths. 
If  it  wander,  if  it  sin,  it  cannot  return  except  through  forgiveness. 
The  forgiving  element  in  love,  is  the  saving  principle.  In  being 
overanxious  and  critical  toward  petty  errors,  we  distrust  the 
power  of  God’s  forgiving  love  to  save. 

Youth  is  active,  and  I conceive  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  Society 
to  enlist  this  spontaneous  activity  in  its  important  and  manifold 
fields  of  labor.  There  was  a time  when  our  Society  was  drifting 
away  from  religion  into  theology,  from  practical  realities  into 
forms  and  customs;  then  the  opportunities  for  developing  youth- 
ful interest  and  labor  were  scarce,  and  our  Society  was  ebbing 
low,  but  we  are  waking  up  to  the  fact  that  religion  is  in  doing,  as 
well  as  in  living.  The  First  Day  school  work  came  to  our  aid, 
opening  up  new  and  pleasant  fields  of  labor  for  the  exuberant 
activities  of  the  young.  Following  this  came  the  philanthropic 
work  fraught  with  a multitude  of  opportunities  for  labor  in  His 
name,  who  said,  “Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the 
least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me.” 

Right  here  I might  answer  that  I can  discover  no  necessity  for 


122 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


any  other  national,  or  international,  organization,  in  behalf  of  the 
young  people,  than  those  already  established.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  “Yearly  Meeting,”  with  its  spiritual  concerns;  the  “First 
Day  School  General  Conference,”  looking  after  the  welfare  of  the 
children;  and  the  “Philanthropic  Union,”  reaching  out,  on  all 
sides,  for  the  betterment  of  humanity;  these  with  their  sub-meet- 
ings embrace  every  subject  worthy  of  an  organization,  and  furnish 
opportunities  enough  for  each  worker.  The  two  latter  organiza- 
tions are  but  in  their  infancy,  and  need  active  workers  every- 
where to  complete  their  development.  The  organizations  formed 
by  man  are  unlike  those  formed  by  God.  The  first  heart-beat  of 
life  sends  the  blood  through  the  arteries,  capillaries  and  veins  al- 
ready prepared  for  the  flow.  But  the  influence  of  the  F.  D.  S.  and 
the  Philanthropic  Union  has  not  yet  found  its  way  into  many  a 
friendly  neighborhood  where  it  would  instill  new  life  and  hope.  I 
feel  that  we  should  utilize  and  perfect  the  organizations  that  are, 
seeing  that  they  are  worthy  and  efficient,  before  we  lay  plans  for 
more. 

The  Yearly  meetings  themselves,  from  what  I understand,  do 
not  all,  in  their  deliberations  and  workings,  accord  due  liberty  to 
the  young  people.  Their  due  rights  are  often  violated,  and  they 
are  not  encouraged,  as  they  should  be,  to  enter  into  the  concerns 
of  Society.  Genesee,  of  which  I am  happily  a member,  and  one 
or  two  others,  I am  informed,  do  not  deserve  this  criticism.  I 
know  there  is  a reticence  on  the  part  of  youth  in  assuming  its 
religious  duties.  But  I am  persuaded,  from  facts  that  have 
occurred  in  my  own  experience,  that  that  is  not  the  only  stum- 
bling block  in  the  way  of  its  assuming  its  responsibilities  in  behalf 
of  the  Society.  When  liberty  to  think,  and  speak,  and  act,  as  the 
spirit  directs,  is  freely  granted  by  the  older,  and  freely  felt  by  the 
younger  members,  there  will  be  still  less  cause  for  a separate 
organization. 

Might  I tell  when  I felt  my  religious  responsibilities  rest  upon 
me  the  most  weightily  of  any  period  or  position  in  my  life?  It 
was  at  a “young  people’s  meeting”  during  one  yearly  meeting 
week.  Ministers  and  elders  were  there,  but  not  conspicuous  in 
position  or  communication.  Young  people,  whom  modesty  per- 
haps, or  an  inward  horror  on  the  part  of  some  others  lest  they 
might  desecrate  the  gallery,  crept  only  part  way  up  to  the  facing 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS.  12$ 

seats,  but  there  was  an  inspiration  in  the  sweet  young  faces,  and 
there  was  willingness  in  the  dear  young  hearts  to  utter  forth  the 
message  of  the  Lord.  Ah,  the  soul  that  is  thus  baptized  in  the 
living,  flowing  stream  of  God’s  sweet,  spiritual  presence  will  not 
soon  forget  the  blessed  privilege! 

Finally,  from  the  dignified  and  honorable  position  into  which 
you  have  chosen  me,  unequal  for  it  as  I am,  I would  recommend 
that  each  Yearly  Meeting  permit  and  encourage  the  young  peo- 
ple to  hold  a special  religious  meeting  for  themselves,  and  for 
the  most  part  by  themselves,  therein  seeking  to  feel  a sense  of 
the  responsibility  that  must  needs  fall  upon  them  in  after  years. 
“Seek  and  ye  shall  find.” 

If  these  things  that  I have  indicated  be  followed,  dear  friends’, 
the  social  opportunities  of  “our  young  members”  will  be  multi- 
plied; abundantly  their  social  needs  will  be  fully  satisfied,  and  I 
have  no  fear  but  that  they  will,  in  their  turn,  feel  the  weight  of  the 
responsibilities  that  will  devolve  upon  them,  and  will  be  willing  to 
assume  their  share  of  the  Society’s  and  the  world’s  work. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


124 


The  Society  of  Friends  and  the  Young 

People. 

Response  by  Isaac  Roberts. 


THE  earnest  paper  to  which  we  have  listened,  has  well  pre- 
sented the  relation  existing  between  a Religious  Society  and 
its  members  as  a reciprocal  relation,  with  duties  owing  from  each 
party  to  the  other.  If,  on  the  one  side,  we  have  a right  to  expect 
that  the  religious  organization  shall  provide  for  the  development 
of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  individual,  we  have,  on  the  other  side, 
an  equal  right  to  expect  a ready  acceptance  and  loyal  support  of 
the  faith  and  teaching  of  the  Religious  Society  by  the  individual; 
and  it  is  doubtless  true  that  we  will  always  find  a more  ready  ac- 
ceptance and  a more  loyal  support  on  the  part  of  those  who  have 
the  clearest  understanding  and  the  highest  appreciation  of  the 
religious  faith  and  teaching  of  the  body  to  which  they  belong.  It 
has  seemed,  therefore,  that,  in  determining  the  duty  of  the  Relig- 
ious Society  of  Friends  to  its  young  people  and  the  duties  of  the 
young  people  to  it,  we  would  be  materially  aided  in  reaching  a 
just  conclusion  by  considering  the  advantages  offered  to  its  mem- 
bers, young  as  well  as  old,  by  our  religious  body.  What  is  it  then 
that  the  Society  of  Friends  can  offer  to  its  members  and  to  those 
whom  it  should  strive  to  reach  and  help? 

The  Society  of  Friends,  as  we  who  have  met  here  today  under- 
stand it,  offers  to  the  young  people  of  its  membership,  and  to  the 
young  people  everywhere,  a religious  faith  so  simple  that  it  can 
be  well  expressed  in  three  words — the  Divine  Immanence;  a faith 
so  readily  understood  that  the  merest  child  can  comprehend  it, 
yet  so  far-reaching  in  its  effect  on  the  development  of  character 
that  the  greatest  intellect  cannot  exhaust  it  or  go  beyond  it;  a 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


125 


faith  so  broad,  so  Catholic,  that  every  religious  system  in  some 
degree  acknowledges  it  and  builds  upon  it. 

“One  faith  alone  so  broad  that  all  mankind 
Within  themselves  its  ample  witness  find.” 

A Christian  teaching  so  true,  so  pure,  that  we  find  it  repeatedly 
declared  by  the  founder  of  the  Christian  church  Himself,  and  it 
was  made  by  Him,  as  we  believe,  the  very  foundation  truth  of  the 
religious  system  He  established;  a practical  faith,  so  well-attested 
by  the  fruit  it  has  borne  in  earnest  Christian  character  and  noble 
Christian  living  that  the  whole  Christian  world  has  owned  the 
worth  and  loved  the  character  of  many  of  the  men  and  women 
who  have  grown  up  under  its  influence;  a faith  so  strong  in  the 
freedom  which  the  Truth  bestows,  that  it  grants  to  every  soul  the 
greatest  possible  freedom  for  individual  growth,  and  offers  to 
each  the  fullest  liberty  of  choice  as  to  forms  of  serving  the  Truth. 

Herein,  we  think,  lies  the  chief  value  of  our  Religious  Society 
to  its  own  membership,  to  the  world,  and  especially  to  the  young 
people;  in  its  simplicity  of  faith  and  worship,  in  its  entire  free- 
dom as  to  growth  and  service.  Opportunity  for  and  help  toward 
the  greatest  possible  growth  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Truth;  op- 
portunity for  and  help  toward  the  highest  possible  service  of  the 
Truth,  these  must  always  constitute  the  chief  value  of  any  church 
organization  to  its  members,  and  these,  we  believe,  our  branch  of- 
the  church  of  Christ  offers  in  the  fullest  possible  measure  to  all 
its  members,  old  and  young  alike.  Unwilling  as  we  are  to  limit 
the  possibilities  of  Divine  action  by  our  own  thought  or  the 
thoughts  of  others  who  have  gone  before  us,  we  rely  chiefly  upon 
God’s  power  to  reveal  His  will  to  us  now  and  here,  and  we  claim 
the  right,  if  some  higher  Truth  than  we  have  known  should  be 
revealed  in  future  days,  to  love  and  serve  that  higher  Truth  even 
as  those  which  we  already  know.  To  do  the  right,  as  God  gives 
us  to  see  the  right,  to  stand  firm  in  the  freedom  with  which  Christ 
has  made  us  free,  to  follow  the  Truth  as  the  Truth  shall  show  the 
way  and  lead  us  on;  these  are  the  claims  that  our  religious  body 
makes  for  its  members,  old  or  young,  and  for  all  the  world. 

That  such  a faith  as  this,  and  such  a Religious  Society  as  this, 
have  special  claims  upon  the  allegiance  and  loyal  support  of  young 
people,  it  should  not  be  difficult  to  show  or  to  believe.  In  its 
early  days  many  of  the  most  earnest  workers  of  our  Society  were 


126 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


young  men  and  young. women.  George  Fox,  William  Penn, 
Robert  Barclay,  Edward  Burroughs  and  others  of  the  founders 
of  our  body  were  quite  young  when  they  entered  upon  their 
active  service  of  the  Truth,  as  members  of  our  Religious  Society. 
And  one  of  our  early  martyrs  for  the  Truth’s  sake,  James  Parnell 
— “the  little  lad,”  as  George  Fox  lovingly  called  him — was  but 
eighteen  years  of  age  when  death  released  him  from  his  martyr- 
dom. So  that  we  may  well  conclude  that  youth  has,-  or  should 
have,  its  acknowledged  rightful  place  in  the  Religious  Society  of 
Friends. 

That  the  young  people  of  our  religious  body  have  in  the  past 
fully  prized,  or  in  the  present  justly  appreciate,  the  advantages 
which  our  faith  and  methods  offer,  is  hardly  to  be  claimed.  But 
that  there  has  been  of  recent  years  an  awakening  of  interest  and 
a growth  in  appreciation,  is  well  known  to  those  conversant  with 
the  facts,  and  it  is  not  the  least  hopeful  feature  of  this  increased 
interest,  that  it  is  very  largely  due  to  the  young  people  them- 
selves, and  has  resulted  in  a large  measure  from  their  desire  to  know 
more  of  the  Religious  Society  of  which  they  are  members.  That 
their  appreciation  might  be  further  increased  by  a more  thorough 
knowledge  of  our  principles  and  history,  is  doubtless  true,  and  the 
formation  of  associations  with  that  purpose  in  view  is  a hopeful 
^and  gratifying  forward  movement  of  the  recent  past,  which  holds 
out  great  promise  for  the  future.  The  proposition  to  form  a 
national  association  for  the  better  accomplishment  of  the  same 
purpose  seems  to  be  one  that  should  commend  itself  to  the 
hearty  approval  and  support  of  all  Friends  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  young  people  and  the  growth  of  our  Society. 

With  reference  to  the  social  needs  and  opportunities  of  our 
young  people  it  seems  right  to  say  that  the  liberty  of  faith  which 
we  enjoy  should  not  be  construed  as  permitting  a liberty  of 
social  action  greater  than  that  enjoyed  by  other  professing 
Christians.  Our  standard  morality  in  the  past  has  been  the  very 
highest,  and  should  continue  so  to  be.  We  cannot  afford  to  sanc- 
tion for  ourselves  social  practices  and  customs  which  the  church 
of  Christ  has  always  united  in  discountenancing.  Our  freedom 
of  faith  has  opened  the  door  to  the  charge  that  we  have  no  faith. 
Knowing  this  to  be  untrue,  we  should  be  doubly  careful  to  show 
that  our  morality,  as  shown  in  our  social  practices,  is  of  the  high- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


12; 


est  grade,  and  not  inferior  to  that  of  any  branch  of  the  Christian 
church.  The  very  freedom  of  faith  which  we  enjoy  should  bind 
us  to  the  strictest  and  most  unquestioned  Christian  morality  in 
act,  so  that  we  may  give  no  support  to  the  charge  of  laxity  in  the 
respect  of  morals.  A good  and  sufficient  rule  to  decide  any  dis- 
puted question  of  action  would  seem  to  be  this:  Those  acts  are 
right  for  us,  in  the  performance  of  which  we  can  honestly  ask  the 
blessing  or  the  presence  of  the  Master,  and  all  those  in  the  per- 
formance of  which  this  presence  and  blessing  cannot  be  sincerely 
desired,  should  be  avoided.  And  our  young  people  will  find,  as 
so  many  of  their  elders  have  found  from  experience,  that  their 
true  peace  will  be  found  in  the  settlement  of  all  such  moral  ques- 
tions on  the  highest  planes  and  under  the  direction  of  the  highest 
authority,  alone. 

What  the  future  of  our  Religious  Society  shall  be,  we  may  not 
know,  but  that  it  will  largely  depend  upon  the  sincere  and  loyal 
support  of  the  young  members  of  today,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
That  the  Society  of  Friends  has  done  good  work  in  the  past  all 
the  religious  world  bears  witness.  That  its  Central  Truth  finds 
wider  acceptance  today  than  ever  before  is  unquestionably  true. 
That  there  is  a need  today  for  our  principles  and  testimonies,  and 
their  practical  application  to  the  needs  of  the  world,  no  intelli- 
gent mind  can  doubt  God  calls  us  to  labor  both  by  ability  and 
through  opportunity.  A measure  of  ability  has  been  granted  to 
each  of  us;  the  opportunities  for  labor  we  cannot  fail  to  see. 
When  ability  to  labor  and  the  need  for  labor  come  together,  duty, 
“stern  daughter  of  the  Voice  of  God,”  always  speaks,  and  speaks 
in  tones  that  the  human  heart  hears.  When  that  Voice  makes  it- 
self heard  in  the  souls  of  the  younger  members  of  our  Religious 
Society,  who  can  doubt  that  the  response  that  they  will  make  in 
the  days  to  come  will  be  loyal  and  prompt,  worthy  of  the  Society 
to  which  they  belong,  worthy  of  themselves,  and  worthy  of  Him 
from  whom  the  summons  comes? 

The  ideal  of  the  founders  of  our  religious  body  was  a pure 
and  lofty  ideal,  the  formation  of  a church  in  which  each  mem- 
ber, old  and  young  alike,  should  know  the  Truth,  and  the  free- 
dom of  the  Truth;  in  which  each  should  be  enlightened  by  the 
Light  Divine,  and  be  led,  through  obedience  thereto,  to  higher 
knowledge,  and  greater  freedom,  and  truer  growth.  To  help 


128 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


realize  that  ideal,  both  for  ourselves  and  others,  is  the  privilege 
of  each  one  of  us.  That  this  high  ideal,  the  fair  vision  of  Christ, 
and  Patriarch,  of  Prophet  and  Apostle,  shall  be  some  day 
realized,  we  may  not  doubt.  With  our  well-beloved  poet  we 
may  say: 

“What  though  the  Vision  tarry? 

God’s  time  is  always  best. 

The  True  Light  shall  be  witnessed, 

The  Christ  within  confessed. 

In  judgment  or  in  mercy 
He  will  turn  and  overturn, 

Till  the  heart  shall  be  His  temple, 

Where  all  of  Him  shall  learn.” 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


129 


Synopsis -of  the  Discussion  upon  the 

Papers. 


T the  conclusion  of  the  reading  of  the  papers,  upon  the  first 


r\  topic  of  the  morning,  the  chairman  extended  an  invitation 
to  L.  P.  Mercer,  pastor  of  the  New  Church  Temple,  to  address 
the  meeting.  In  most  cordial  greeting  Dr.  Mercer  spoke  of  the 
pleasure  he  had  in  being  with  us  this  morning,  especially  as  he 
was  prevented  from  giving  voice  to  the  welcome  he  felt,  during 
the  session  the  day  before  in  his  own  church.  It  was  a great 
privilege  to  meet  Friends.  He  could  not  forget  that  he  was 
nursed  in  the  lap  of  a mother  who  was  one  with  us.  And  though 
his  lines  had  diverged,  there  was  one  principle  we  must  all  recog- 
nize— one  which  would  bring  us  more  and  more  near  to  each 
other — “God  is  a Spirit  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship 
him  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth.”  At  my  mother’s  knee  I learned  an- 
other Truth — There  is  one  Father  revealing  Himself  through  Jesus 
to  all  men;  a light  in  the  hearts  of  men  everywhere.  Referring  to 
the  congress  in  general  he  spoke  of  the  one  notable  thing,  a com- 
mon recognition  of  great,  conspicuous  principles.  There  is  one 
great  and  All-powerful  God*  in  us  and  working  in  each  heart  that 
gives  Him  a place.  This  work  and  life  is  a preparation  for  the  next 
world.  It  is  a period  of  character  building.  In  its  highest  con- 
ception it  means  a pure  life  and  a brotherhood  of  men.  Building 
up  this  character  by  experiment  what  matter  if  we  are  walking 
by  different  paths,  provided  always  that  we  are  verging  finally  to- 
ward the  one  true  path.  One  caution,  however,  is  needed,  walk- 
ing apart  and  standing  for  special  testimonies  we  are  sometimes 
in  danger  of  becoming  narrow.  Friendly  contact  alone  may  cor- 
rect this  and  bring  us  nearer  the  one  true  fellowship. 

Allen  Flitcraft,  Pennsylvania,  bearing  testimony  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  parents  of  Dr.  Mercer,  then  spoke  of  two  points  in  the 
essays  presented  this  morning — testimonies  of  our  Saviour.  Thou 


130 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


shalt  have  no  other  God  but  one.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  with  all  thy  heart. 

Thomas  H.  Speakman,  Pennsylvania,  spoke  of  the  practical 
needs  of  our  Society,  the  need  especially  of  increasing  the  mem- 
bership. Other  churches  make  the  Sabbath-school  an  influence  in 
this  direction.  The  rules  of  our  discipline  tend  in  many  cases  to 
discourage  applications.  He  would  have  us  extend  the  invitation 
and  waive  the  usual  requirements  for  those  who  may  shrink  from 
seeking  membership  by  the  regular  methods.  We  suffer  further 
from  deficiencies  of  the  ministry  in  many  of  our  meetings  and 
many  are  without  any.  He  would  propose  that  the  meetings  be 
held  in  two  parts,  one  conducted  after  the  ordinary  methods, 
and  another  for  the  younger  members. 

J.  Van  Vechten  Waring,  Connecticut,  said  this  was  a time  for 
practical  inquiry  concerning  the  relations  of  our  younger  mem- 
bers. Those  who  are  brought  in  from  conviction  often  realize  a 
deeper  significance  in  their  privileges  than  do  those  of  birthright 
membership.  But  he  would  have  all  cease  to  rely  much  upon  the 
written  essay  and  seek  rather  a deeper  spiritual  baptism.  Young 
people  need  an  association  based  upon  this  principle.  If  this 
congress  shall  take  steps  looking  to  an  organization  offering 
broader  opportunities  for  our  young  people,  much  may  be  ex- 
pected. The  cultivation  of  the  spiritual  ratherthan  the  intellectual 
through  a national  organization  would  prove  a common  rallying 
point. 

Chas.  E.  Lukens,  Illinois,  considered  membership  in  the  Soci- 
ety well  worth  asking  for,  and  the  yaung  attenders  should  be  the 
wards  of  the  society  until  fitted  to  ask  for  membership. 

Aaron  M.  Powell,  New  York,  said  if  he  were  fifty  years 
younger  he  would  enter  very  heartily  into  this  subject.  One 
point  I deeply  sympathize  with,  the  call  for  opportunities  to 
work.  In  response  to  this  we  should  make  our  business  meetings 
thoroughly  alive.  I do  not  object  to  new  organizations  when  they 
may  prove  useful,  and  yet  I would  abolish  all  if  the  meetings  for 
business  could  be  fully  aroused. 

Dr.  Satterthwaite,  New  Jersey,  endorsed  the  thought  of  the  for- 
mer speaker,  and  expressed  admiration  of  the  discipline  of  the  Illi- 
nois Yearly  Meeting.  Agreeing  with  you  we  feel  at  home. 
Separate  organizations  are  unnecessary,  and  to  be  saved  we  have 
only  to  believe. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


131 

Samuel  P.  Zavitz,  Ontario.  United  with  the  thought  that  the 
great  obstacle  to  growth  in  our. Society  lies  in  the  absence  of 
spiritual  growth.  We  have  sufficient  organization.  What  we 
stand  in  need  of  today  is  development  of  those  we  do  have.  The 
papers  are  of  deep  interest,  and  he  would  have  us  inspired  to  go 
back  to  our  homes  prepared  to  build  up  the  spiritual  powers  with- 
in us. 

John  J.  Cornell,  Maryland,  referred  to  the  character  of  the 
meeting  for  young  people  mentioned  in  the  first  paper.  He  re- 
membered well  the  occasion.  As  ministers,  we  have  been  too 
much  disposed  to  hold  ourselves  aloof.  The  meeting  in  question 
where  all  united  in  the  concern,  though  the  movement  was  largely 
in  the  hands  of  the  youth,  was  a most  tender  one.  The  life  of  that 
meeting  today  is  in  a large  measure  due  to  the  interest  then  in- 
spired. It  is  our  duty  to  mingle  freely  with  the  young. 

Dr.  Eavenson,  Pennsylvania,  inquired  who  the  young  were. 
He  confessed  that  in  the  Lord  he  felt  young.  We  have  but  to 
seek  the  Lord  and  we  shall  know  and  feel  the  Life.  Why,  I ask, 
do  you  not  attend  the  meetings  for  business? 

Katie  Shotwell,  Nebraska,  spoke  of  the  occasion  as  having 
deepest  interest  for  those  in  the  far  west.  Situated  as  they  were, 
they  needed  something  that  would  bring  the  young  people  to- 
gether— something  new,  something  practical  and  appealing  to 
present  interests.  We  are  tired  of  the  histories  of  the  past,  and 
the  things  fitting  to  the  times  and  the  men  of  the  past.  I am 
glad  to  be  here,  and  desire  that  you  may  give  us  something  we 
may  carry  home  for  our  instruction.  An  organization  of  the 
character  of  the  Society  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  would  aid  us. 
The  elders  must  help  and  guide  us. 

Ada  Hartley,  Iowa,  thought  that  if  we  but  get  our  own  young 
people  to  work  in  the  Society,  others  would  freely  come  in  and 
unite  with  us. 

William  M.  Jackson,  New  York.  Many  would  be  with  us  if 
our  doors  were  thrown  wide  open.  Those  who  are  charitable 
would  join  us.  Those  who  are  wont  to  give  heed  to  the  Voice 
within  are  in  sympathy.  Those  who  are  obedient  and  recognize  the 
Divine  power  in  the  heart  are  Lriends,  no  matter  where  they  are 
denominationally. 

Lydia  H.  Price,  Pennsylvania.  The  inspiration  coming  to 


32 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


the  child  we  all  need.  And  there  are  so  many  of  the  young  so 
sweet,  so  good.  We  all  n^ed  their  help.  The  hesitancy  on  their 
part  to  speak  needs,  at  times,  our  earnest  encouragement.  They 
hesitate  only  because  of  a lack  of  experience.  Let  the  elders 
become  broader  in  their  tolerance  and  thus  invite  the  young 
people  to  come  forward. 

Robert  M.  Janney,  Pennsylvania,  felt  the  Society  could  not  do 
a higher  work  in  guiding  the  young  than  in  directing  them  to 
the  “ Light  Within.”  And  this  means  not  our  light,  but  the  Light 
that  is  in  each  individual  soul.  This  is  the  whole  foundation  of 
our  religion.  But  our  opportunities  are  bounded  by  our  faithful- 
ness. The  ways  are  open  to  us.  And  now  to  come  to  our 
organizations — we  need  them.  Christian  people  must  band  them- 
selves together.  They  must  come,  however,  in  the  proper  spirit, 
under  the  right  call.  I do  not  see  the  way  clear  now  to  form  a 
national  organization.  We  cannot  go  through  the  land  to  form 
such.  It  can  come  only  by  branches  spreading  out  from  some 
center  or  centers,  and  I believe  the  time  will  come.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  the  organization  should  be  modeled  after  the 
Philadelphia  association.  We  desire  you  to  meet  the  peculiar 
wants  of  your  own  communities. 

Robert  S.  Haviland,  New  York,  had  no  apology  to  offer  for 
his  age.  We  are  all  growing  and  must  all  receive  the  kingdom  as 
little  children.  I desire  to  turn  back  to  the  meeting  for  young 
people  mentioned  in  the  paper  and  referred  to  by  John  J.  Cornell. 
One  of  the  most  impressive  incidents  was  the  testimony  of  a lit- 
tle girl  of  twelve:  “God  is  love.”  Each  of  you  that  feels  a truth  be 
willing  to  share  it  with  your  fellow  members.  Go  to  your  meetings 
with  this  thought. 

Elias  Underhill,  New  York,  said  he  sympathized  with  the  pa- 
pers. There  should  be  no  dividing  line,  but  all,  old  and  young, 
work  together  upon  one  common  platform. 

Jona.  K.  Taylor,  Maryland.  The  occasion  has  been  one  of 
deepest  interest.  It  has  been  the  one  prayer  of  my  life  that  I may 
not  grow  toward  the  apex  of  a triangle,  but  toward  the  broad 
side.  That  our  Society  methods  have  been  bad,  our  empty  houses 
testify.  How  shall  we  grow?  Guide  our  young  people  to  work 
for  themselves.  In  my  own  dealings  with  them  I have  ever  tried 
to  place  myself  in  the  background.  We  may  preach  to  our 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


1 33 


children,  but  if  we  would  enlist  their  interest,  we  must  employ 
their  services.  If  they  do  not  stay  with  us  it  may  be  because  we 
do  not  do  what  God  has  given  us  to  do/ 

Benj.  F.  Nichols,  Iowa.  It  has  been  said,  we  have  been  blessed 
as  a Society.  Is  it  true?  We  have  been  waiting  two  hundred 
years  for  the  Spirit  of  Christ  to  build  up  our  Society.  The  decay 
is  going  on.  We  are  now  laying  our  foundation,  and  the  return 
is  to  be  realized  in  the  years  to  come.  That  it  may  be  a better 
harvest  we  must  have  a broader  ministry  and  one  educated,  and 
as  equally  important  an  educated  membership. 

J.  Van  Vechten  Waring,  Connecticut.  In  a national  organiza- 
tion it  is  not  the  thought  to  separate  the  old  and  the  young. 
Our  aim  would  be  to  nurture  for  the  privileges,  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  general  meetings. 

Anna  M.  Jackson,  New  York,  explained  the  plans  and  oppor- 
tunities of  the  Philanthropic  Union  as  arranged  for  the  New  York 
Yearly  Meeting.  Superintendents  are  appointed  for  each  subject 
under  the  care  of  the  union.  Quarterly,  monthly  or  preparative 
meetings,  according  to  their  size,  are  invited  to  take  up  such  sub- 
jects as  may  best  suit  their  conditions  or  most  demand  their 
efforts,  and  each  individual  member  is  thus  afforded  opportunity 
to  join  in  the  work  and  in  such  lines  as  may  best  harmonize  with 
his  or  her  inclinations. 

John  L.  Griffen,  New  York,  spoke  of  the  change  in  the  num- 
ber of  meetings  in  New  York,  and  suggested  as  one  cause  the  in- 
creasing tendency  of  members  to  move  from  the  limits  of  the 
meetings,  thereby  forming  other  associations  for  their  children. 
He  spoke  further  of  the  need  of  a literature  suited  to  the  present 
demands. 

Joel  Borton,  New  Jersey.  One  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism. 
This  occasion  seems  to  bring  us  nearer  the  realization  than  ever 
before.  As  the  hearts  of  many  may  beat  as  one,  so  that  of  many 
nations  may  beat  through  the  influence  of  this  congress.  Love 
has  gone  out  through  the  world  and  brought  these  different  people 
together. 

Fanny  Lownes,  Nebraska.  I am  young  as  a Friend,  scarcely 
able  to  stand  alone,  but  I joy  at  being  here.  We  of  the  west  need 
your  aid,  but  be  careful  how  and  where  you  guide  us.  We  all 
need  the  guidance  of  the  Inward  Monitor. 


Denominational  Congress 

ART  PALACE,  Hall  No.  3. 

9th  mo.,  21st. 


Chairman  for  the  Session, Aaron  M.  Powell 

PAPER— “RELATION  OF  SPIRITUAL  CULTURE  AND  DEVOTION 
TO  MORAL  PROGRESS,”  - - Anna  M.  Starr,  Richmond,  Ind 

RESPONSE  TO  THE  PAPER,  - William  M.  Jackson,  New  York 

DISCUSSION  OF  THE  PAPERS. 

CLOSING  WITH  A PERIOD  OF  RELIGIOUS  DEVOTION. 


At  the  time  appointed  for  the  closing  session  of  the  congress, 
Friends  and  interested  visitors  assembled  in  hall  No.  3,  of  the  Art 
Palace.  The  impressive  silence  at  the  opening  was  broken  by 
Allen  Flitcraft  in  supplication.  Aaron  M.  Powell,  on  being  called 
upon  to  preside  for  the  day,  in  a few  earnest  words  directed  our 
thoughts  to  the  approaching  end  of  the  congress,  and  the  proofs 
already  given  us  of  the  wisdom  of  those  who  had  been  instru- 
mental in  calling  Friends  together.  The  results  of  the  meeting  he 
felt  would  be  important  and  far  reaching. 

Jonathan  W.  Plummer  then  asked  the  pleasure  of  the  meeting 
upon  the  question  of  an  extra  session  for  the  consideration  of 
that  part  of  Fourth-day’s  program  crowded  out  by  the  absorb- 
ing interest  of  the  first  part.  After  due  attention  it  was  decided 
to  adhere  to  the  original  plan  and  close  with  the  morning’s 
session.  The  papers  introducing  the  topic  of  the  morning  were 
then  read  by  their  authors,  Anna  M.  Starr;  Richmond,  Ind.,  and 
William  M.  Jackson,  New  York. 

134 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


135 


Relation  of  Spiritual  Culture  and  Devo- 
tion to  Moral  Progress. 


Anna  M.  Starr, 


HE  relation  of  spiritual  culture  and  devotion  to  moral  prog- 


1 ress  is  a very  close,  and  an  intimate  one,  so  much  so  in 
fact,  that  it  is  the  very  foundation  of  all  true  moral  progress.  We 
know  it  to  be  true,  that  a strictly  moral  life  is  sometimes  pur- 
sued from  no  higher  motives  than  self  respect,  and  a desire  to  be 
held  in  high  esteem  by  others,  and  to  such  lives  the  enemies  of 
Christianity  point  with  exultation.  But,  having  its  foundation 
in  self,  it  is  the  “house  built  upon  the  sand”  which,  when  as- 
saulted by  some  sudden  and  fierce  temptation,  will  surely  be 
swept  away. 

The  solid  rock  of  a spiritual  life  and  love,  alone  can  lift  us 
above,  and  beyond,  the  many  temptations  to  which  humanity  is 
liable.  Moral  progress  is  a growth  in  the  direction  of  right  liv- 
ing, and  right  thinking,  under  an  overshadowing  sense  of  our 
obligations  to  the  Supreme  Being,  our  Creator,  and  the  Father  of 
our  spirits,  to  Whom  we  owe  allegiance,  and  Whose  righteous 
laws,  set  forth  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  revealed  to  us  by 
the  Inner  Light,  it  should  be  our  pleasure  to  obey. 

Mankind  in  this  life  is  passing  through  a disciplinary  stage,  in 
which  we  find  ourselves  possessed  of  natural  desires  and  propen- 
sities, which,  under  right  control,  are  productive  of  peace  and 
happiness,  but,  which,  when  they  control  us,  are  our  sure  degra- 
dation and  ruin. 

On  every  hand  we  are  met  with  duties  to  be  performed,  evils 
to  be  encountered,  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  trials  to  be  borne, 
and  temptations  to  be  resisted,  and  in  all  these  dispensations 
spiritual  culture  and  unswerving  devotion  to  truth  and  purity  is 
our  only  sure  dependence.  The  Divine  Father,  who  is  the  teacher 
of  His  children  Himself,  opens  our  minds  with  direct  revelations 


136 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


of  His  will,  and  as  we  open  the  door  of  our  hearts  at  His  knock- 
ing, He  touches  them  with  a love  so  intense,  and  all-consuming, 
as  to  destroy  evil  desires,  while  we  yield  to  its  control. 

It  seems  to  be  the  teaching,  both  of  reason  and  revelation, 
that  we  are  in  entire  dependence  upon  our  Creator.  He  is  our 
Father,  and  we  His  children. 

The  parental  relationship,  as  it  exists  in  this  life,  is  the  nearest 
representation  of  our  connection  with  our  Maker. 

The  reverence,  honor,  and  obedience  of  a dutiful  child  to  its 
parents,  is  what  is  due  from  us  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  while  the 
protecting  care,  loving  interest  and  wise  authority  of  the  earthly 
parent  is  typical  of  God’s  matchless  love  and  forbearance  to  us 
in  our  waywardness  and  many  mistakes. 

We  are  all  conscious  of  the  fact  that  in  the  gratification  of  our 
sensual  appetites,  passions,  and  affections,  all  motives  of  action 
appeal  to  us  from  outside  of  ourselves;  we  are  free  to  choose  or 
reject.  But  no  power  outside  of  ourselves  can  prevent  us  from 
loving  God  and  our  neighbor;  neither  can  it  prevent  us  from  for- 
giving all  who  wrong  or  falsely  accuse  us.  “Man’s  best  gifts,” 
says  Cannon  Farrar,  “lie  beyond  the  power  of  man  either  to  give 
or  take  away,”  and  herein  lies  the  secret  of  that  sweet  inflow  of 
peace  and  happiness  which  makes  us  realize  for  ourselves  that 
joy  is  indeed  one  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  and  that  a good  man 
cannot  be  unhappy,  however  much  the  malevolence  of  others 
may  try  to  make  him  so. 

How  true  we  find  it  to  be,  as  the  mental  philosophers  tell  us, 
that  “rectitude  is  strength,”  and  moral  uprightness  is  power,  that 
power  which  “maketh  the  righteous  as  bold  as  a lion.”  Way- 
land,  in  his  moral  science,  says:  “The  very  existence  of  our  moral 
nature,  and  the  ability  to  love  the  pure  and  the  good,  emanate 
from  the  Father.  As  every  object  in  nature  is  seen  only  by  the 
reflecting  rays  of  the  sun,  so  every  exhibition  of  goodness  in 
humanity  is  only  the  reflection  of  Him  who  is  the  Father  of 
Lights,  in  Whom  is  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning.” 

The  main  obstacle  with  us  is,  that  in  our  youth  especially, 
self  indulgence  is  so  much  easier  than  self  denial,  and  sensual 
enjoyment  so  intense  and  real,  while  its  penalties  seem  so  remote 
and  uncertain,  that  a large  percentage  of  our  youth  are  swept 
into  the  period  called  “wild  oats  sowing,”  little  dreaming  how 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


*3 1 


bitter  will  be  the  reaping.  Take,  for  example,  one  of  the  many 
brilliant  young  men,  who  has  been  reared  by  Christian  parents, 
with  both  precept  and  example  pointing  him  in  the  direction  of 
pure  and  upright  conduct.  He  finds  himself  at  the  threshold  of 
independent  manhood,  with  fine  health,  pure  blood,  strong  nerves, 
and  happy  elastic  spirits.  He  enters  the  gay  world,  resolving  to 
put  a strong  restraint  upon  appetite  and  passion,  and  be  a pure, 
honest  and  upright  man.  But  he  makes  the  fatal  mistake  of  self 
sufficiency;  he  knows  what  is  right,  and  he  means  to  do  it.  Spir- 
itual culture  and  devotion  to  the  Divine  impulses  within  him  are 
not  deemed  to  be  essentials,  and  so,  without  the  Great  Pilot  at 
the  helm,  he  launches  his  barque  upon  the  untried  sea  of  life, 
only  to  meet  temptations  in  such  subtle  guise  that  they  are  not 
even  recognized  to  be  temptations.  First  the  wine  cup,  of  which 
his  gay  companions  are  partaking,  and  which  courtesy  demands 
him  to  accept,  all  unconscious  of  its  insidious  fascinations.  Step  by 
step  the  ruin  is  wrought,  until  the  chains  of  a hopeless  bondage, 
with  its  unnatural  stimulus,  has  lighted  other  baleful  and  un- 
hallowed fires,  which  lead  him  where  the  pure  and  good  can 
never  go,  until  too  late,  he  realizes  that  he  is  lost  to  virtue  and 
honor,  lost  to  any  true  happiness  either  in  this  life  or  in  the  life 
to  come. 

Alas!  is  not  this  the  sad  history  of  many  thousands,  who  are 
treading  the  downward  path  to  destruction,  and  bringing  the 
gray  hairs  of  honored  parents  in  sorrow  to  the  grave. 

How  inexpressibly  blessed  then  and  all-important  is  the  cul- 
tivation of  our  spiritual  nature,  and  devotion  to  its  pure  and  peace- 
ful laws,  opening  wide  the  door  to  moral  progress,  and  as  effect- 
ually closing  it  upon  “those  fleshly  lusts,  which  not  only  destroy 
the  body,  but  war  against  the  soul.”  In  all  periods  of  conflict 
and  temptation,  when  the  human  will  is  vacillating  between  two 
lines  of  conduct,  one  of  them  at  least  questionable,  a strong  ap- 
peal to  that  moral  sense,  which  will  not  suffer  the  conscience  to 
be  violated,  even  in  the  smallest  matters,  will  bring  the  help  and 
guidance  of  that  Higher  Power,  which  is  a tower  of  everlasting 
strength,  and  causes  a fountain  of  joy  to  spring  up  within  us  of 
never-ending  freshness.  “Conscious  virtue  brings  an  invisible 
protection,”  that  is  as  a wall  of  adamant  about  us.  It  is  in  vain 
to  flatter  ourselves  that  we  can  violate  moral  laws,  and  escape  the 


1 3« 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


the  consequences.  The  truth  remains,  “Whatsoever  a man  sow- 
eth,  that  shall  he  also  reap.” 

Therefore,  let  us  cultivate  a devotional  spirit  through  earnest 
heartfelt  prayer,  which  is  the  expression  of  our  adoration,  thanks- 
giving, confession  of  sins,  and  supplication  for  much  needed  bless- 
ings both  spiritual  and  temporal,  always  accompanied  with  en- 
tire submission  to  the  Divine  Will,  either  in  the  granting  or  with- 
holding of  our  requests. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


39 


the  Relation  of  Spiritual  Culture  and  De- 
votion to  Moral  Progress. 


Response  By  Wm.  M.  Jackson. 


HE  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has  suffered  great  detriment  by 


1 the  additions  that  have  been  made  to  the  record  by  the 
translators,  and  its  meaning  has  been  greatly  impaired  by  the  in- 
terpretations  put  upon  it  by  the  church.  The  “Revised  Version” 
has  obliterated  many  oi  the  additions  made  to  the  record  by  the 
early  fathers,  and,  fortunately  for  the  progress  of  pure  religion, 
the  interpretations  of  the  church  are  being  brought  under  crit- 
icism. In  no  direction  is  this  more  apparent  than  in  the  revision 
of  religious  opinion  concerning  the  relation  of  morality  to  re- 
ligion. No  one  who  reads  the  accounts,  as  given  by  two  of  the 
evangelists  (Matthew  and  Luke),  can  fail  to  notice  the  prom- 
inence given  by  the  Great  Teacher  to  the  laws  of  morality.  In 
both,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  stands  almost  first  in  His  dis- 
courses. It  is  probably  true  that  this  Sermon,  so  called,  was  not 
given,  as  we  now  find  it,  in  one  connected  discourse,  but  that  it 
is  a collection  of  excerpts  from  various  discourses;  this,  however, 
does  not  affect  the  proposition  that,  in  the  mind  of  Jesus,  mo- 
rality is  the  fundamental  principle  in  religion.  It  is  the  meek, 
the  merciful,  the  pure  in  heart,  the  peacemakers  that  are  “the 
light  of  the  world.”  It  is  the  “good  works  that  are  seen”  that 
cause  righteousness  to  grow  in  the  world;  the  righteousness  that 
must  be  exceeded  is  the  Pharisaical  righteousness,  that  was  not, 
indeed,  hypocritical,  as  theologians  are  apt  to  translate  it,  but 
which  was  so  ceremonial  and  superficial  that  philanthropy  found 
no  place  in  it.  The  New  Commandments  were:  Not  to  be  angry ; 
not  to  think  impure  thoughts;  not  to  swerve  from  the  truth;  not 
to  resist  evil  but  to  love  one’s  enemies.  This  last  was  made  equal 
to  the  first  of  the  Mosaic  Commandments,  and  inseparably  bound 
up  with  it,  as  the  two  most  sacred  obligations  laid  upon  mankind. 


140 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


And,  that  there  might  be  no  doubt  at  all  as  to  the  application  in 
that  beautiful  parable  of  the  man  who  fell  among  thieves,  our 
“neighbor”  is  shown  to  be  any  human  being  whom  we  have  the 
power  to  help,  and  not  merely  our  friend  or  fellow  citizen. 

If  this  be  a correct  interpretation  of  the  teaching  of  the  Great 
Master,  then  spiritual  culture  and  devotion  are  dependent  upon 
progress  in  morals.  First  in  order,  is  love  to  man;  without  it 
there  can  be  no  love  for  God.  “He  that  loveth  not  his  brother 
whom  he  hath  seen,  cannot  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen. 
I John  iv,  20.  Love  to  God  and  its  fundamental  love  to  man  are 
of  the  same  nature,  for  as  “John  the  beloved”  again  writes, 
“Every  one  that  loveth  is  begotten  of  God  and  knoweth  God.” 

Thus  “we  climb  up  to  the  love  of  God  by  our  love  of  man”  in 
the  natural  order  of  the  learner,  from  the  lesser  to  the  greater,  and 
in  God’s  order  of  development,  “first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  and 
then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.” 

The  first  essential  is  to  put  trust  in  God’s  leading.  Putting 
trust  in  God  is  not,  indeed,  to  trust  what  some  one  has  said  about 
God,  or  what  we  read  about  God,  or  even  the  best  that  we  have 
thought  about  God,  but  in  what  we  know  about  God  in  the  pres- 
ent; in  what  God  inspires  us  to  do  each  day.  Putting  trust  in  God, 
I understand,  is  putting  trust,  intuitively,  in  the  law  of  God  in  the 
heart.  This  was  the  message  of  George  Fox,  and  it  embodies  the 
.very  essence  of  Quakerism.  As  George  Fox  phrased  it,  it  is  sim- 
ply to  “Mind  the  Light,”  or  to  rely  upon  the  inward  motions  of  the 
Spirit  by  which,  he  said,  all  “opinions  and  religions  are  to  be 
tried.” 

Fifteen  hundred  years  before  this  Paul  declared  that  “that  which 
may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest  in  men”  (Romans  i,  19),  affirming 
thus  that  to  all  people  has  come  this  Divine  Light,  this  manifes- 
tation of  God.  It  is  the  source  of  all  righteousness;  it  underlies 
every  feeling  of  sympathy  and  friendship  among  men;  it  inspires 
parental  love;  it  is  the  soul  of  all  integrity,  all  uprightness,  all  no- 
bility. It  begets  every  phase  of  virtue  and  goodness  and  holi- 
ness. The  first  and  ultimate  and  only  test  of  our  trust  in  God  is 
the  estimate  we  place  upon  the  moral  and  social  obligations  that 
are  revealed  unto  us. 

These  are  the  stepping  stones  that  Lead  to  higher  things. 
These  are  the  rounds  by  which  we  mount  to  heaven,  the  conditions 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS.  I4I 

that  bring  the  soul  to  God.  For  in  fulfilling  these  we  are  assim- 
ilating our  character  to  the  Divine;  we  are  enabling  the  Christ  to 
triumph  in  our  hearts. 

This  process  of  growth  was  recognized  by  the  Society  of  Friends 
at  an  early  period  in  their  history,  and,  as  a result  of  this  recogni- 
tion, there  has  been  drawn  up,  not  a statement  of  faith,  not  a system 
of  rituals,  but  a code  of  morals;  a discipline  for  the  training  of  its 
membership  in  the  school  of  righteousness.  Flas  a member  fall- 
en into  immoral  habits,  it  is  assumed  without  question  that  he  has 
disobeyed  the  Light  within;  he  has  dishonored  a manifested  duty 
and  if,  under  the  admonitions  of  his  fellows,  he  does  not  amend 
his  life,  he  has  disunited  himself  from  the  Religious  Society  that 
holds  it  true  that  morality  underlies  righteousness,  and  that  as 
the  disciple  emphatically  says,  “If  a man  say  I love  God  and  hat- 
eth  his  brother,  he  is  a liar.” 

To  sum  up  then,  Quakerism  recognizes  moral  progress  as 
fundamental  (assuredly  dependent  upon  the  power  and  inspira- 
tion of  God  for  its  existence),  and  that  it  leads  up  to  a higher 
condition  where  perfect  love  makes  morality  automatic  and  no 
longer  an  effort  to  resist  temptation.  It  is  where  morality  merges 
into  righteousness;  that  is,  where  men  cease  to  do  wrong,  or  think 
evil,  not  because  of  a fear  of  law,  or  a fear  of  man,  or  a fear  of 
anything,  but  because  of  a love  of  truth,  of  a love  of  virtue,  of 
a love  of  goodness,  of  a love  of  God.  Then  it  is  that  moral  obli- 
gations are  realized  to  be  an  expression  of  God’s  thought  in  man’s 
spiritual  nature,  and  perfect  obedience  to  manifested  duty,  to  be 
the  highest  form  of  devotion  and  the  purest  method  of  spiritual 
culture. 


142 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


Synopsis  of  Discussion  of  Papers. 


OSEPH  WILLETS,  of  New  Jersey,  in  opening  the  discussion, 


J expressed  his  satisfaction  with  both  papers.  To  him  it  seemed 
that  individuals  under  a conviction  of  needing  the  Divine  help  to 
enable  them  to  overcome  the  evils  that  surround  them,  when  seek- 
ing that  help  from  the  one  source,  realize  the  fullest  measure  of 
love  to  man.  This  is  the  corner-stone  of  all  moral  life,  and  as 
we  seek  to  become  recipients  of  this  love  we  obey  the  moral  law. 

Aaron  G.  Gano,  of  Indiana,  felt  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
added  to  the  papers.  What  we  now  need  is  the  desire  and  effort 
on  our  part  to  take  them  to  heart.  We  must  not  go  back  to  our 
homes  to  forget,  but  to  act.  We  have  the  precepts  and  example 
of  Jesus.  Can  it  be  possible  that  this  great  congress  shall  be 
valueless  in  its  future  influence?  Let  us  not  commit  the  too 
common  fault  when  going  home  from  our  periodic  gatherings  of 
dwelling  only  upon  the  happy  social  privileges  enjoyed. 

Samuel  S.  Ash,  Philadelphia,  approving  the  sentiments  of  the 
papers,  wished  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  spiritual  culture, 
and  insisted  that  morality  should  go  hand  in  hand.  It  is  right- 
eousness alone  that  exalteth  a nation.  Since  coming  here  the 
sentiment  of  Dr.  Holmes  in  calling  Boston  the  hub  of  the  world 
had  often  found  its  parallel  in  his  mind.  This  religious  parlia- 
ment is  to  be  henceforth  the  hub  of  religion,  and  that  which  is 
taught  is  destined  to  go  out  as  “felloes”  to  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  these  teachings  are  those  our  fathers  have  taught  for  two  and 
a half  centuries.  Let  us  keep  in  ever  present  view  that  center  of 
Light  as  the  source  of  all  inspiration  to  right  action. 

Hannah  A.  Plummer,  of  Chicago,  was  reminded  of  a paper  by 
Samuel  W.  Longfellow,  wherein  he  said  some  were  born  pious 
and  some  upright.  If  the  choice  lay  between  the  two  he  would 
choose  the  way  of  the  upright.  One  cannot  be  righteous  except 
he  be  moral.  It  had  been  the  desire  of  her  life  to  have  only  love 
for  those  with  whom  she  might  have  differences. 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


143 


Fanny  Lownes,  Nebraska,  had  been  deeply  impressed  by 
the  thought  in  the  first  paper  referring  to  young  people.  They 
were  not  taught  sufficiently  to  look  to  the  Higher  power.  The 
remedy  was  to  begin  with  the  child  in  the  cradle.  Teach  children 
to  adore  and  to  seek  aid  silently  and  humbly  after  the  manner 
commended  by  Jesus.  And  this  early  training  will  implant 
righteousness,  the  love  of  God,  of  father,  mother,  and  even  love 
of  enemies. 

William  C.  Starr,  of  Richmond,  felt  his  heart  too  full  for 
words,  but  was  impressed  to  refer  to  one  point  in  the  papers — a 
matter  for  all,  old  and  young — “the  Immediate  Presence.”  “The 
Kingdom  Within.”  The  world  is  beginning  to  know  of  this,  and 
acknowledge  the  vital  truth.  Every  drop  of  water,  every  leaf, 
depends  upon  His  care.  I could  not  utter  these  poor  words  ex- 
cept for  the  help,  the  dependence  upon  God.  If  we  could  but 
realize  this  in  its  fullness,  how  could  we  injure  a brother  man?  If 
I could  only  keep  the  thought  in  full  possession  of  my  soul,  I could 
not  utter  an  unjust  or  obscene  word.  God  is  All-powerful  to  aid 
me. 

Emily  P.  Yeo,  New  York,  gave  expresssion  to  the  feeling  that 
she  would  not  be  true  to  her  duty  if  she  did  not  voice  the  pleasure, 
the  privilege  she  had  enjoyed  in  these  meetings.  And  not  alone  at 
these,  our  conferences,  but  the  general  meetings  of  the  parliament 
as  well.  She  then  directed  attention  to  the  thought  of  the  last 
paper,  that  growth  in  the  Divine  love  meant  growth  in  love  to 
man.  Our  neighbor,  however,  was  not  always  the  one  nearest  at 
hand.  He  may  be  the  one  more  remote.  He  may  be  farthest 
removed  in  sympathy — our  enemy. 

Lydia  H.  Price,  Pennsylvania,  spoke  of  the  allusion  in  the  first 
paper  to  the  sowing  of  the  wild  oats,  and  the  distinctions  of 
morals  generally  accepted  for  the  two  sexes.  We  must  come  to 
demand  the  same  standard  of  morality  for  all.  Religion  is  equally 
important  for  both  sexes.  She  could  accept  also  the  thought  of 
the  second  paper,  that  love  must  grow  into  righteousness. 

Mary  C.  White,  Iowa,  in  a few  words  impressed  upon  us  the 
thought  that  in  sowing  the  wild  oats  we  invariably  reap  the 
same. 

Isaac  Wilson,  Ontario,  laid  emphasis  upon  the  naturalness  of 
all  true  religion.  God  is  the  author  of  all  nature.  He  would  espe- 


144 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


cially  condemn  the  use  of  any  species  of  falsehood  in  the  presence 
of  children,  and  gave  as  illustration  the  incident  of  a child  whom 
a dentist  attempted  to  deceive  by  the  assurance  that  the  operation 
would  cause  no  pain.  The  little  child  maybe  impressed  with  the 
truthfulness  of  truth.  We  must  teach  the  simple  honest  things 
in  life. 

Jonathan  W.  Plummer,  of  Chicago,  would  have  the  child  taught 
to  refrain  from  doing  a thing  because  of  the  wrongfulness  of  the 
deed.  The  Divine  voice  within  teaches  this.  When  the  child  is 
made  to  see  the  truth  and  attend  to  the  voice  within  there  is  no 
fear  for  the  result. 

Charlotte  W.  Cocks,  New  York,  expressed  unity  with  what 
had  been  said,  and  spoke  of  her  experience  as  a child,  and  of  her 
mother’s  teaching.  It  was  the  mother’s  habit  to  gather  her  chil- 
dren around  her  for  a period  of  silence  and  until  the  words  of  im- 
mortal power  were  given.  Those  words  can  never  be  forgotten. 
She  appealed  to  the  mothers  present  to  consider  well  the  charge 
before  them. 

Allen  J.  Flitcraft,  of  Chicago,  believed  that  our  deeds  are 
stronger  in  their  influence  than  our  words.  There  are  object  lessons 
all  around  us.  We  must  not  hold  too  strongly  to  the  thought  that 
children  should  be  seen,  not  heard.  He  further  illustrated  his 
thought  by  the  story  of  a family  of  boys  where  the  influence  within 
the  circle  revealed  a deed  of  sin  and  brought  about  its  correction. 
A lesson  was  also  impressed  that  in  being  a receiver  of  a share  in 
the  spoil,  one  becomes  a partaker  in  the  crime. 

Wm.  M.  Jackson,  New  York,  felt  he  would  not  be  relieved  of 
a burden  did  he  not  allude  to  the  saying  that  the  man  may  be 
moral  and  yet  not  a religious  one.  Such  a definition  does  not 
indicate  an  understanding  of  what  a moral  man  is.  The  child  that 
refrains  from  doing  a sinful  act,  simply  because  told  it  is  a wrong, 
is  not  a moral  child.  The  moral  man  is  he  who  feels  within  his 
own  soul  the  remorse  coming  from  a realization  of  the  wrongful- 
ness of  the  deed. 

Elwood  Roberts,  Norristown,  Pa.,  expressed  a fear  that  we 
may  not  sufficiently  adapt  this  occasion  to  the  needs  of  our  chil- 
dren. We  have  had  no  allusion  to  the  First  Day  School  and  its 
influence. 

The  world  is  coming  more  and  more  to  understand  the  doc- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS.  I45 

trine  of  the  Inner  Light,  and  is  ready  to  hear  of  it.  Quakerism 
will  do  a useful  work  if  through  the  growing  minds  of  its  young 
it  continues  to  aid  in  spreading  the  truth. 

Jonathan  K.  Taylor,  Baltimore,  earnestly  inquired  how  we 
may  get  the  lasting  good  from  these  meetings,  and  suggested 
reference  of  the  subject  to  our  various  yearly  meetings. 

Samuel  P.  Zavitz,  Ontario,  felt  we  could  not  divorce  the 
moral  and  spiritual  elements  of  our  nature,  and  he  rejoiced 
in  the  thoughts  expressed  in  behalf  of  the  right  training  of  the 
child. 

OUR  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 

At  this  point  in  the  discussion  it  was  decided,  in  response  to 
a general  desire,  to  devote  a part  of  the  remaining  hour  to  fur- 
ther consideration  of  the  topic  of  the  previous  day,  especially 
of  that  phase  proposing  a national  organization  for  our  young 
members. 

Robert  M.  Janney,  Philadelphia,  was  asked  to  introduce  the 
subject.  Reviewing  the  discussion  of  yesterday,  and  giving 
some  explanation  of  the  Young  Friends  Association,  of  Phila- 
delphia, he  insisted  that  this  organization  need  not  necessarily  be 
taken  as  the  model.  Each  neighborhood  must  consider  its  special 
needs  and  opportunities.  And  while  the  time  and  demands 
might  not  be  ripe  for  a national  organization  he  felt  assured 
of  one  in  the  future.  It  could  come  only  through  the  forma- 
tion of  associations  in  the  chief  centers,  which  would  reach  out 
and  gradually  embrace  our  entire  borders. 

Jonathan  W.  Plummer  said  the  voice  of  yesterday  was  rather 
one  of  discouragement;  he  would  today  give  the  word  of  encour- 
agement. If  we  look  back  twenty-five  years  we  understand  what 
has  been  done  by  the  First  Day  School;  we  must  first  make  the 
local  meeting  the  center  of  interest,  and  the  managenent  of  this  is 
not  the  work  of  a few.  We  must  enlist  the  interest  of  the  entire 
membership. 

The  subject  was  further  considered  by  Fanny  Lownes,  J.  D. 
Furness,  Sarah  Flitcraft,  Jos.  A.  Bogardus,  Samuel  P.  and  Edgar 
M.  Zavitz,  Wm.  C.  Starr  and  Joshua  Mills,  with  the  general  senti- 
ment that  there  were  other  organizations  now  in  existence  sup- 
plying present  needs,  and  especially  emphasizing  the  thought 

that  we  must  not  separate  the  old  and  the  young. 

10  * 


146 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


One  of  the  speakers,  however,  suggested  the  important  thought 
that  our  youth  do  need  further  opportunities  for  spiritual  de- 
votion, in  which  the  responsibility  should  rest  more  especially 
upon  themselves  under  right  care. 

The  congress  then  concluded  its  labors  with  a period  of  de- 
votional exercises.  The  silence  was  broken  by  Jonathan  W. 
Plummer,  appearing  in  prayer.  Mary  Trevilla,  Joel  Borton,  Allen 
Flitcraft,  Isaac  Wilson,  Margaretta  Walton,  Anna  M.  Starr  and 
Sarah  Flitcraft  followed  in  brief  but  heartfelt  words  in  behalf  of  a 
deeper  spiritual  life. 

Isaac  Wilson  then  offered  prayer,  and  the  meeting  closed 
after  a session  of  four  hours,  in  which  the  interest  and  attendance 
increased  to  the  close. 

Thus  closed  our  participation  in  the  parliament  of  religions. 
The  number  of  persons  present  at  our  parliamentary  presentation 
was  larger  than  anticipated,  both  of  our  own  members  and  others, 
and  compared  very  favorably  in  every  way  with  that  of  other  de- 
nominations of  much  greater  numerical  strength. 

We  received  from  the  beginning  of  our  work  a courtesy  and 
attention  from  the  Auxiliary  authorities  quite  out  of  proportion  to 
our  numbers,  and  must  feel  that  the  work  in  past  years  for  the 
purification  and  advancement  of  mankind  rendered  by  our  pred- 
ecessors was  the  basis  for  this  respect,  rather  than  our  present 
numerical  power. 

In  reviewing  the  experiences  of  these  few  weeks  of  religious 
congresses  with  their  able  papers  and  addresses,  and  resulting 
friendships  among  representatives  of  heretofore  quarreling  faiths, 
we  feel  justified  in  saying  the  gatherings  were  attended  with  a 
kindliness,  good  will  and  enthusiasm  that  was  unexpectedly  full 
and  free,  and  with  very  little  that  was  unpleasant.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  non-Christian  faiths  were  accorded  as  free  expression 
and  cordial  greeting  by  the  Auxiliary  and  the  crowded  audiences 
in  the  Hall  of  Columbus  as  those  of  Christian  faiths,  and,  for 
those  who  shared  in  this  fellowship,  there  will  probably  always 
remain  a sympathy  with  those  of  differing  faiths,  grounded  on  a 
sense  of  our  common  humanity  and  the  Fatherhood  of  God  over 
all,  that  came  to  them  more  strongly  and  clearly  during  these 
sessions  than  ever  before. 

While  this  influence  leading  to  a broader  and  truer  Christian- 


RELIGIOUS  CONGRESS  FOR  FRIENDS. 


147 


ity  may  never  die  out,  we  may  find  much  reaction  in  the  feeling 
and  expression  of  religious  people. 

Many  who  were  not  in  attendance  may  respond  to  the  senti- 
ment that  Christianity  has  been  injured  or  disgraced  by  associa- 
tion with  non-Christian  faiths,  and  it  remains  for  those  who  have 
seen  the  truth  in  more  Christ-like  vision,  to  quietly,  but  steadily 
and  patiently  carry  out  the  work  now  commenced  that  will  ulti- 
mately place  all  faiths  upon  a basis,  admitting  of  their  presenta- 
tion and  advocacy  in  kindly  feeling  and  Christian  spirit,  on  the 
ground  of  their  inherent  truth  and  man’s  ability  to  see  and  accept 
that  truth,  rather  than  in  the  spirit  of  bitterness  or  by  proscrip- 
tion and  unchristian  force  as  in  the  darker  days  of  religious  wars 
and  persecutions. 

As  Friends,  we  may  ask,  What  is  our  duty?  Should  we  strive 
to  bring  our  Society  again  to  the  front  as  a pioneer  and  aggressive 
worker  for  the  world’s  moral  and  spiritual  progress  in  the  peace- 
able spirit  and  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ?  If  so,  what  does  the  In- 
ward Light  or  Indwelling  Christ  speak  to  our  souls?  While  we 
may  not  abandon  any  custom  or  principle  that  still  feels  to  us  to 
possess  life  and  power,  let  us  be  equally  willing  to  let  go  whatever 
form  or  custom  has  lost  its  vitality  and  advocate  its  underlying 
principle  in  forms  suited  to  present  needs.  With  our  distinctive 
faith  in  daily,  divine  leading  to  daily  duty,  we  must  necessarily 
change  and  progress  as  new  light  dawns  upon  our  minds,  showing 
us  new  fields  and  new  methods  of  carrying  on^he  Divine  Will  as 
thus  seen.  Ours  is  a faith  that  not  only  admits,  but  requires  this 
steady  advance  as  our  spiritual  and  intellectual  perceptions 
broaden;  it  gives  us  the  grand  position  of  keeping  pace  with 
God’s  revelation  to  the  growing  minds  and  souls  of  His  watchful 
children  who  commune  with  Him  in  spirit,  and  thus,  consecrated 
to  His  service,  become  advance  guards  in  proclaiming  the  Gospel 
of  glad  tidings  to  a needy  world. 


